Morally Ambiguous
by lronHand
Summary: What if the Horde wasn't as evil as it's portrayed as? What if the Rebellion wasn't as noble as it claims to be? This story addresses the moral ambiguities of She-Ra, including: Adora/Catra's relationship, Entrapta's ethical dilemmas, Glimmer's descent towards darkness, and much more. New, central characters, Brett and Brittni join the fray to bring a very ambitious story.
1. Chapter 1: Disclaimer

**DISCLAIMER: (Chapter 1)**

This is a story about the moral ambiguity of the Horde and the Rebellion. I am very aware of how the show paints the two factions as black and white. I wanted to paint a more gray area between the two. I wanted to show that there's good people in the Horde and bad people in the Rebellion.

In this story I will have a major focus on my two original characters named Brittni and Brett. They are the center of the story. However, I will have major focuses on the main characters that you know and love from the show. In particular, I am going to have a lot of focus on,

Adora

Catra

Entrapta

Glimmer

Bow

Hordak

Shadow Weaver

The Princesses

And many other canon characters.

I will explore the following:

Catra and Adora's relationship

Catra's mental health and psyche

Entrapta's view on ethics, the Horde, the Rebellion, and people in general

Glimmer's descent into darkness

The actual battles between the Horde and Rebellion

A new faction that will be revealed in later chapters

Fright Zone citizens

And much more!

Please note that my story is going to be very different from many She-Ra stories that I've read on fanfiction. There is going to be war. There are going to be some graphic details. There will be morally ambiguous choices that some characters are going to have to make; (hence the name ;]) One in particular is Glimmer and how she will make some major choices that determine her ethics, and even her friendships.

The first many chapters are going to have a particular focus on OC characters, but worry not, all the canon characters will get their time to shine, and eventually they will be fully immersed in the story.

I don't write curse words in my stories. Not much of a disclaimer, just thought I'd add that. ;)

Reviews are very important to me. Constructive criticism is how I become a better writer. Also, I get a huge dopamine rush whenever people say they like my story, so that's nice, too :)

I personally thank, talk to, and listen to every single one of my followers. So, please, message me if you have an idea, suggestion, or whatever, and I will respond!

Lastly, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Believe me when I say that this is going to be a very ambitious story. I hope you can love reading this as much as I love writing this.

With all that said, enjoy the story:

**Morally Ambiguous.**


	2. Chapter 2: Hordak's Weapons

Morally Ambiguous: A She-Ra FanFiction

Chapter 2: Hordak's Weapons

The Fright Zone. That was an appropriately given name, as it was in the similitude of a wasteland laced with technological marvels. The land that reached across it was mostly barren with a fleeting modicum of vegetation. Protruding from the craters of the zone were dark buildings emblazoned with sharp edged corners and industrial inspired architecture. It seemed like something from a post apocalyptic work of fiction. The "Frightening" part of the Fright Zone is that this was not fiction, this was reality. And yet, despite the dread that anyone not belonging to the Fright Zone would have towards it, the inhabitants called it home. The Observer Twins were no different.

The Observer Twins were a sister and brother, named Brittni and Brett, respectively. They were horde soldiers that had the gift of observation; hence the name. At first mention, that may seem trivial, at best. However, their observation skills were borderline superhuman. They both had enhanced mirror neurons, which allowed them to copy any action they were able to observe. In addition, anything that they wanted to learn, they were able to comprehend much faster than that of a normal human. Whether through book study, or hands on experience, they had a far reaching understanding of whatever it is they were tasked with learning. Where they receive these gifts, most were unsure. Some believed they were magical. Others believed they were a product of a science experiment. Whatever the reason for their powers, Hordak exploited their abilities for the advancement of his Horde.

From a young age, Hordak assumed the Twins were no more special than any other child orphaned at the cost of a Horde victory. He relegated them to the infirmary with the rest of the orphans. Although it was an infirmary for the wounded, nefarious practices were also held there. Many of the captives that were taken were subject to experiments. These experiments mostly involved testing resilience to diseases, or to understand abilities and magics that were intrinsic to various creatures that were apart of the rebellion.

Not all of the researchers were so heinous. One of the nurses that was assigned to the infants in particular, was especially gentle towards them. His name was Keirnan, and he took a special interest in the twins when he had first gone to admit them into the infirmary. They had been only a few months old, but Keirnan noticed some interesting behaviors from them. For instance, when he had been writing an EMR on a clipboard, he noticed that the two in their isolette; (A polite term for an incubator,) began to mimic his writing strokes. Upon noticing the twins, Keirnan stopped writing. They also stopped the mimicry, but continued to stare at him. He didn't think much of it, and continued to write, when to his amusement, they both began to move their arms in the writing motion. He smiled and said,

"Heh, now that's adorable. Well, sorry kiddos, but I have to admit the other children." He began walking away, when he heard them coo. He chuckled, turned his head, and said, "Oh don't wor-" Keirnan stopped mid sentence and stared at the twins wide eyed. To his astonishment, they had both stood up. He gasped and dropped his clipboard. The twins stared with a cocked head, they looked at their blankets, grabbed them, then dropped them on the floor. Keirnan took a few seconds to digest this odd behavior, and said almost inaudibly,

"What in the world…" At that moment, Keirnan knew that there was something special about these twins. Babies weren't even supposed to be able to lift their heads, and yet, here these two were, standing and mimicking movements. For the next little while, Keirnan gave special attention to the Twins. He would monitor their reactions to simple mathematics with blocks. They were able to count to ten and write their names by age one. By age two, they were able to speak articulately and started learning how to read, write, and perform basic math. The prodigies continued to impress Keirnan who relayed the information to Hordak. Hordak was interested in what they had accomplished, and gave Keirnan full responsibility over their development.

The children continued to rapidly learn. During this learning, they started expressing their preferences towards certain avocations. Brittni, by age three, quickly learned the connection between pain and protests. She had once observed a child get hurt and cry. When this happened, she immediately ran over to see what had caused the pain. She noticed a cut on the child's finger. Brittni ran to the nearby first aid kit, pulled out antibiotic ointment and a bandaid, and went to alleviate the child's pain. This was the first on a medical sojourn that Brittni would pursue. Growing up, she was trained extensively in the medical field, learning the treatment of diseases, fractures, contusions, and other ailments. By age 9, she had memorized the anatomy of multiple humanoid species. Brett, on the other hand spent his time fascinated with technology. He would take apart machines, weapons, and had even created his own stun baton using various parts he had scavenged.

Keirnan continued to be impressed by the Twins' natural talents and rapid learning. Hordak was also interested in the Twins' abilities. However, he began having concerns with Keirnan's charge of them. Hordak saw the Twins as nothing more than weapons, than actual people. He felt that Keirnan was too soft on them, and according to Horde standards, he was. Keirnan wanted to keep them away from battle as much as possible. He tried to keep them focused on research and development. This was mostly fine for Brittni as she mostly was able to treat wounded soldiers that made it back from battle. She did sometimes think about what it would be like to be in the field, though. Brett, on the other hand, relished the thought of going into battle. He spent so much of his time creating weapons and repairing robots, that he wanted to see them in action in a live battle. Keirnan was once a combat medic, and had experienced battle many times. He didn't want the twins to go through the trepidation of combat, which is why he tried so hard to keep them at the Fright Zone. This did not sit well with Hordak, and eventually, he refused to wait any longer.

Because of the unique position that the Keirnan had with the Twins, they stayed with him in his living quarters. Keirnan's quarters had only two bedrooms, a kitchen, and makeshift living room that was actually referred to as a "meeting room." One particular morning, Keirnan was making breakfast for the Twins. It wasn't often they could eat something other than an MRE, so receiving pancakes and eggs was quite nice.

"Thanks for making breakfast!" Brittni blissfully exclaimed as she ran out of her shared room and swiped a plate. Brett walked out in a groggy manner holding his head and rubbing one of his eyes. He let out a loud yawn.

"You're welcome!" Keirnan replied, happily. Upon noticing Brett's dazed countenance, he chuckled and asked, "And what were you doing last night, kiddo?"

"Ugh, I'm not a kid. And I was trying to splice the fiber optics on this bot. The copper was reall-"

"Sho dash wot 'ou 'ere 'oing lash nigh'!" Brittni interrupted, mouth full of pancakes. She swallowed, then added, "sleep is an absolute necessity! Did you know that sleep deprivation can cause the subject to experience the equivalence of inebriation-" She couldn't finish because Brett had just shoved a pancake into her mouth. She glared at him for a few seconds, but upon registering the taste of the pancake, she shrugged her shoulders and started chewing. Brett sat down and asked for some coffee. Keirnan gave him a cocked eyebrow and said,

"You know, she's right. You have plenty of time during the day to work on these experiments." Brett rolled his eyes at him and forked at the eggs that were placed before him. Keirnan added, "also, you really shouldn't be drinking coffee at the age of 17, anyway." Brett groaned. Brittni then spoke up,

"Yeah! Do you know what's in that stuff? Tannic acid! It literally leatherizes your stomach!" Brett sighed and simply said,

"At this point I'll let it burn a hole in my stomach, that's the stuff that keeps me going." Keirnan spoke up,

"Well, as soon as you're 18, you can-" He was interrupted by an incoming transmission from Hordak. Keirnan went over to the nearby monitor and patched the transmission through. Hordak appeared on the screen with a calm, but serious demeanor. He went straight to the point.

"Keirnan, I need you to report to my lab. Immediately." Keirnan rose a fist to his chest and said,

"Right away, Lord Hordak." The transmission switched to static then turned off. Keirnan turned straightways to the Twins and nodded.

"Well, you heard Lord Hordak, I need to go. Brittni, I will see you at the clinic, later. Brett, I'll see you tonight." Keirnan turned suddenly and began walking away. He took about two steps before Brittni asked,

"What's wrong?" Keirnan stopped, but didn't turn back, and answered,

"Oh, uh nothing. I just don't want to keep Lord Hordak waiting." He took another step, but was then stunned by an impertinent inquiry from Brett.

"Why are you avoiding eye contact with us?" Keirnan swallowed audibly, turned towards them and said,

"I.. I'm not avoiding eye contact, I just-"

"And how come you're sweating? Do you have hyperhidrosis?" Brittni interrupted, pointing her fork at him." Keirnan began to stammer with his words.

"W-Well, I-" He tried to start.

"And you're stuttering. What's going on?" Brett also interrupted. Keirnan tried to protest,

"N-now see here-" Brittni and Brett started overlapping their questions to the point where Keirnan had to raise his voice a bit.

"Enough!" He saw the shock on their faces. "I'm sorry." He sighed, brought his hands up to his forehead, then rubbed his eyes. He half-heartedly chuckled and said, "I forgot how observant you two are. Listen, you two know how Hordak can be. Being called by him is a roll of the dice. You might get a praise, he might throw you into the Beast Island prison. I've generally always had… civil interactions with Hordak, but I have heard of those that have displeased him." Keirnan walked over to the Twins and put his hands on both of their respective shoulders, then continued. "As long as you can please Hordak, you will thrive in the Horde, and therefore thrive in life. Remember that." The Twins nodded in affirmation. "Good." He cracked a slight smile, then stood up and began walking back towards the door. "Brittni, I will see you at the clinic later. Brett, I'll see you tonight. Good luck, today." Keirnan walked out the door and headed towards Hordak's lab. The Twins looked at each other.

"I hope Keirnan will be alright." Brittni said with some concern.

"Eh, the frequency in his vocals didn't indicate any anger. But then again, Hordak is a fantastic liar." Brett replied, casually. Brittni sighed a bit, then nodded. Brett continued, "Anyway, I have to get my equipment, I got a lot of tanks to work on. Brett started towards their room to grab his equipment. Brittni was always an overly punctual girl, she always had her scrubs laid out and ironed, and her medical bag packed. She went over to the mirror to fix her hair. She always fastened her medium sized brown hair into a ponytail. She was very short, about five feet tall, and rather thin. Her eyes were a greenish-brown. Because of her love for anatomy, she did what she could to improve her physical fitness. The horde had a mandatory basic training which she happily went through. In addition to her love of medicine, Brittni loved competition. In particular, she loved excelling at things that people believed she couldn't do. There was one day in basic training where they were doing grappling training. She ended up being pitted against a boy that had at least twenty pounds on her. Little did he know the power of her observation skills. Her opponent rushed in to grab her arms, thinking he could slam her on the ground. However, she saw what he was doing and grabbed his wrists first, used her left leg to force his arms down, and swept his feet with her right leg, then flipped onto his back, pulling his arms up in strappado. Her opponent never dared face her after that.

Brett, being Brittni's twin looked very similar, just much taller. His hair was shaved close to his head, and he had a thickening beard. He had similar facial features to her, just more masculine. Just like Brittni, he also excelled at wrestling, and was able to take on larger foes than himself. What he excelled at, however, was weaponry. He only used weapons he personally built. Everything from stun batons and ballistic energy weapons, to tanks and robots, he was a weapons master.

What really set the twins apart was their stern loyalty towards each other. Growing up, they did have their sibling rivalries. Particularly with their talents towards observation, they always tried to outdo each other. Despite all that, growing up together, training together, and just generally living together in the Fright Zone were the elements that forged their unshakable bond. At any rate, they had gotten ready and headed to their respective assignments. However, they had no idea what was in store for them that day.

Keirnan walked with a well feigned appearance of confidence. In reality, he was always nervous to see Hordak. He had arrived at the doorway to Hordak's lab. Keirnan took a deep breath and pressed the button to the intercom.

"Lord Hordak, it's me, Keirnan." Keirnan let go of the button and waited a few seconds. There didn't seem to be any response. A slight bit of hope penetrated Keirnan thinking that he might not have to see Hordak. But just as this hope entered, it immediately fled when the mechanical doors to the lab swung open. This shocked Keirnan a bit and he took a couple of steps back. A firmly deep voice from the intercom then came on.

"Ah, Keirnan. Come in." Hordak said. Feeling the utter reality of having to face Hordak sank into Keirnan's legs as he walked with uneasiness into the lab. It was a rather big room that functioned more as a workshop than an actual lab. The lab was filled with all sorts of technological marvels. Wires, power conduits, and energy relays lined the walls and floors. All the energy currents surrounding the lab caused it to glow a green tint. Although it was clean, and high tech looking, there was a feeling of macabre that emanated the lab. Atop a staircase was Hordak, situated on his throne. Hordak was an intimidating being. He had a white, skeletal-like face with pointed ears and glowing red eyes. His apparel consisted of a black robe that covered his torso and upper legs. Emblazoned on the robe was a red bat. Underneath his cloak, his arms, and his legs was dark layered plate metal that had sharpened edges. Keirnan went to the bottom of the stairs, kneeled before Hordak, bowed his head and said,

"Lord Hordak, it is good to see you. How may I serve?" Hordak had two facial expressions that Keirnan had ever seen: A scowl, and a sort of blank expression that represented a tolerant attitude. Hordak stood up from his throne and started walking down the stairs, his arms crossed behind his back. Once he got to the bottom, Hordak said,

"I commend the servile attitude. You may arise." Hordak walked passed him towards one of his workbenches that was filled with various tools. Keirnan rose up and looked towards Hordak. Hordak was fumbling through different tools and gadgets. Keirnan cleared his throat and said,

"So, Lord Hordak. Uh, is.. Is there something in particular I can do for you?" Hordak, without turning around replied,

"Patience, Keirnan. I just wanted to talk for a moment." Hordak had grabbed some kind of device that Keirnan could not see. Hordak turned around and crossed his arms behind his back again. He walked towards Keirnan, just a few feet away. Keirnan stood there, eyes fixated on Hordak. Sweat began to strain down his head. Hordak then presented the device he was holding. It was a laser pistol. Hordak had his finger off the trigger and pointed it away from Keirnan, but he still felt nervous around the weapon. Hordak continued to speak, "Tell me Keirnan, do you know what I am holding?" Hordak then aimed it at a wall, and looked at Keirnan. Keirnan spoke up,

"Oh, well, that's an L-29 Mark 2 Laser Pistol." he said with some confidence. Hordak's neutral face curved just slightly into some kind of a smile. For some reason, that made Keirnan even more nervous. Hordak looked to the right where he was aiming the pistol.

"Do you know why I like weapons and tools, Keirnan?" Keirnan was dumbfounded for a moment but then simply said,

"Um… Well, because.. Um, I mean that's how you win the war, righ-"

ZRAAAM.

Hordak had fired the pistol and left a medium sized hole in the wall he aimed at. It had melted the metal and left a burn mark surrounding the hole. Keirnan gasped a breath of air and stared, mouth agape at the wall. Hordak's voice became more sinister,

"I like weapons and tools because when I activate them, they do as they're told!" Hordak walked back towards his workbench and slammed the gun onto it. He then turned his head towards Keirnan and continued, "Everything I have invested my time, energy, and resources in, I expect to be used for the advancement of the Horde." Keirnan was feeling frightened now. He had no idea what Hordak was trying to convey. He asked, with feigned confidence,

"Forgive me Lord Hordak, but I'm not sure I'm following." Hordak turned his body completely towards Keirnan with a menacing looking scowl. Hordak walked towards Keirnan, again. Keirnan felt completely frozen, including his eyes that were still fixated on Hordak. Hordak got within a foot of Keirnan's face, shifted his own face to a more neutral expression and said,

"The Twins."

Keirnan slightly gasped and took a step back. He tried to start talking,

"B-but, my Lord, what would you have with them? They are already doing much for the Horde!" Hordak began speaking,

"From what I have seen, they are wasting their full potential. I am completely aware of their feats and observational skills. Brittni is a medical prodigy, and Brett is a tech wizard, yes? And it took them very little effort." Hordak crossed his arms behind his back again, then started slowly pacing away from Keirnan. Hordak continued, "I am aware that Brittni has saved many of our soldiers, and that Brett has designed many weapons for the war effort." Hordak then stopped and turned his head towards Keirnan.

"Now, I would like to see them in the field." Keirnan attempted holding back a gasp, but Hordak caught attention to it, and turned his body towards him. "Is there a problem, Keirnan?" Keirnan swallowed hard and said,

"Oh, uh, no, no, my Lord. I just.. Well, the Twins are very precious to the Horde-" Hordak cut him off and said,

"Precious. Interesting word choice, Keirnan." Keirnan had a puzzled look on his face with his mouth slightly agape. Hordak continued, "the word precious generally denotes a familial, or intimate bond, more so than a word regarding an organization." Keirnan knew what Hordak was implying, and tried to cover it up by saying,

"Oh, right, well I meant they have value in the horde, and we don't want to lose them." Hordak then said,

"We don't want to lose them? Or you don't want to lose them?" Keirnan tried to protest by saying,

"No, Lord Hordak, I mean, all of us together. Their talents have been very beneficial, and I just wouldn't- I mean, the horde can't afford to lose them." Hordak was not buying it. He spoke again,

"Their observational skills and their overall talents that they've developed since childhood will protect them out in the field. They have the skills of some of my most elite troops. They have the potential to be some of my best soldiers, and I will not allow that potential to be wasted on trivial pursuits here in the Fright Zone." Keirnan tried to speak again,

"But Lord Hordak-" Hordak had gotten up in Keirnan's face at this point and grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him a foot off the ground.

"Enough!" Hordak shouted, "I will not allow your attachment to the Twins interfere with the Horde's goals. They will be put into the field, and that is my final say on it. Do I make myself clear?" Keirnan was frightened to the extreme at this point that he could not even speak. "Well?!" Hordak shouted again. Keirnan scrambled to get words out,

"Y-yes. Yes, Lord Hordak. I'm sorry. Forgive my insubordination. It will be done." Hordak's scowl went back into a calm, but indignant expression. He put Keirnan down, took his hands off of his shoulders, and took a step back.

"Very good, Keirnan. I expect that you break the news to them when they get done with their shifts, tonight. That is all. You are dismissed." Keirnan bowed himself, and quickly walked out of Hordak's lab.


	3. Chapter 3: Preparations For a Siege

Chapter 3: Preparations for a Siege

Keirnan had walked away from Hordak's lab as though he had been sent to the gallows. Thoughts were racing through his head as he walked down the hallway.

_"They're not even adults yet. How could he send them out so soon? What if something happens? What if they get captured? Or killed? Or-" _His thoughts were interrupted as he heard a voice calling his name. Coming from the left junction of the hallway, Shadow Weaver appeared.

"Oh. Hello, Shadow Weaver." Said Keirnan. Shadow Weaver was Hordak's Second-in-Command. She was a domineering and manipulative woman, which is why she was in charge of training and raising most of the young cadets; to make sure that they served the Horde, unquestioningly. She had long and flowing black hair that flowed after her like a sinister shadow. She was cloaked in a red and dark maroon dress. The ends of her dress were cut into strands that seemed to move on their own, as if they were sentient. She had grey colored skin that could only be seen through her fingerless gloves and the profiles of her head.

"Ah.. Keirnan, I trust your talk with Lord Hordak went well?" Keirnan showed a bit of confusion and asked,

"H-how did you know about that?" Shadow Weaver gave a slight chuckle, then said rather boastfully,

"It is my duty as Second-in-Command of the Horde to know of all our operations. Lord Hordak has already given Octavia charge of the Twins' first mission." Keirnan gave a disapproving look to Shadow Weaver and exclaimed,

"Octavia? She's the one that's taking charge of the Twins?!" Although she was wearing a mask, Keirnan could see the annoyance in Shadow Weaver's face. She spoke up,

"Remember your place, Keirnan. These were orders given from Lord Hordak."

"I.. I'm sorry, Shadow Weaver. I just don't think her hot temper will be good for their mental well-being." Shadow Weaver gave a laugh of derision.

"Ha! You speak of their mental well-being? And what of your coddling? You treat them as if they were glass cups in a stone quarry. How are they supposed to grow if they don't face opposition?" She put her hand on his shoulder, then asked, "And how are they supposed to reach their full potential in an environment that doesn't test their limits? Only a combat scenario would allow them to understand the potential of their observational skills." Shadow Weaver made a fair point. Between Hordak and Shadow Weaver's lecture on Keirnan's attachment to the Twins, he started wondering if he truly had coddled them too much. Keirnan shuddered at what Shadow Weaver was saying. Neither spoke for a few seconds. Keirnan then took a deep breath and asked,

"Will they be safe?" Shadow Weaver took her hand off his shoulder and looked away. She put her hands together and started wriggling her fingers rhythmically. She put her hands together then slowly opened them. As she opened her hands a shadowy mirror shaped hologram was conjured from her hands. It looked as though it might be a portal. Keirnan took a step towards the shadowy construct, then looked closely. He saw two sets of armor. They both looked like typical horde soldier uniforms with the following components: A black bodysuit, a chest piece with pauldrons, a pair of bracers, greaves, and a helmet that covered the entire head. These two armors had distinct modifications, however. The one on the left had armor pieces that were colored white instead of the typical charcoal gray color. The chest piece had a red cross medical symbol, instead of the Horde's bat symbol. The helmet also had the medical red cross on the forehead. The one on the right was also a different color. The armor pieces were colored a dark navy blue. Like the medical armor, the chest piece had a symbol of a gear with a wrench protruding from it at a 45 degree angle. The helmet, likewise had the gear symbol. Keirnan was astonished by the armor. After studying the armors before him for a half a minute, he spoke up,

"So.. these are-"

"The Twins' new armor." Shadow Weaver completed the sentence for him. "I took the liberty of having Modulok modify the horde infantry armor to complement their individual abilities."

"Can't spell Modulok without, 'mod.'" Keirnan said, jokingly. This slightly amused Shadow Weaver. Not so much the joke, but that Keirnan was coming around. He continued, "so what kind of modifications did he make?"

"Allow me to explain. Come to the armory." Shadow Weaver's shadowy hologram dissipated, and they both made their way to the armory. The armory was filled with all sorts of armor and weapons, it was well guarded, and only accessible through the iron barred wall that separated the weapons and armor from the rest of the Fright Zone. Inside the barred wall was a robotic-looking quartermaster. The robot-looking being was completely covered in metal plates. On the chest piece, there were buttons and knobs. Even the head was covered in plates that had two slits for the eyes and four slits where a mouth should be. Keirnan had never been to the armory, or had seen the quartermaster. He wondered if the quartermaster was a robot, or a person in robotic armor. Either way, the quartermaster stood there, motionless. Shadow Weaver approached him and said,

"Dylamug, we are here to requisition the armor that Modulok had produced for us." There was no response from Dylamug, but he pressed a button which made a whoosh sound. To the left of Shadow Weaver, the whoosh sound was a wall that protruded from the ground. Fog emitted from the wall. As it dissipated, Keirnan saw the two armors, affixed to the protruding wall. Shadow Weaver moved towards the armor, and stood beside them. Keirnan walked towards them, impressed at their appearance. Shadow Weaver moved to the right of the medical armor and began describing the modifications that were made.

"Each uniform has been modified for each twin." She started with Brittni's. "Brittni's armor has been stocked with basic first aid, gauze pads, hydrogen peroxide, occlusive dressings, saline, antiseptic solution, etc. She has a more advanced kit that have supplies for more traumatic wounds." She named a few other pieces of advanced medical equipment.

"_How is she supposed to carry all this?" _Keirnan thought to himself. Almost as if Shadow Weaver read his mind, she said,

"You may be wondering how she's supposed to carry all of this. Her armor has a powered exoskeleton to take the majority of the weight off." Keirnan was getting more and more impressed with the armor. Shadow Weaver continued the explanation of the armor,

"In addition to the supplies, the left bracer is filled with a few gadgets such as a cauterizing tool and projectile adrenaline shots. On the right bracer there is a defibrillator." Shadow Weaver then moved over to the left of the tech armor, and introduced it. "Brett's armor has been outfitted for combat and field repair. His armor has been stocked with all the tools necessary to repair our tanks and field robots. His left bracer has a built in welder that doubles as a flamethrower. His right bracer has a saw for practical use and hand-to-hand combat. Keirnan was disturbed at the thought of this.

"_Hand-to-Hand combat... With a saw? They're just supposed to be support units, not fighters." _Shadow Weaver interrupted his thoughts,

"Is there a problem, Keirnan?"

"No, no, ma'am. Please continue." She stared for a second, then continued,

"Again, just as Brittni's armor has a powered exoskeleton, so does Brett's. Now, there is a feature that may put your mind at ease. Their armor has been reinforced with an iridium polymer composite. Lightweight and strong, it will protect the Twins against the Rebellion's magic and weaponry while simultaneously allowing them the maneuverability needed to perform their tasks." Keirnan was indeed impressed. Both at the armor and how articulate Shadow Weaver was. As much as he didn't want the Twins to go out and fight, he did take comfort in the fact that they would be prepared with personalized armor.

"This is quite impressive. Really impressive, actually." Keirnan began. "If you don't mind me asking, milady, what is your interest in this? I thought you only cared for magic, not technology." Shadow Weaver chuckled a bit, then said,

"Technology and magic are not as much of an antithesis as people like to believe. On the contrary, they work together well. What do you think is powering the exoskeletons? Portions of the black garnet." Keirnan was shocked.

"_Dark magic is powering these suits? That's.. Amazing and terrifying." _He thought to himself. Shadow Weaver interrupted his thoughts,

"Now, I'll have their uniforms sent to your quarters tonight. I want you to help them get ready. Their mission will begin in a few days. I want them to be briefed with Octavia, tomorrow. Good day, Keirnan." Shadow Weaver then exited the armory. But on her way out, she mentioned without turning her head,

"They are among the best the Horde has to offer. You have nothing to worry about." She then continued walking away. Keirnan just stood there, staring at the armor. The armor that the Twins were going to wear into battle. The thought of them going into active duty was really registering into his mind. Despite all this preparation, he still didn't like it. Nevertheless, he knew better than to cross Hordak. He looked to the right to see Dylamug still standing there, motionless. Keirnan half-heartedly asked with a chuckle,

"So, what's your take in all this?" Dylamug continued to stand there, but slowly moved his head towards Keirnan. A high-pitched metal scraping sound followed his head. A low growl emanated from the 4 slits on the helmet. Keirnan backed away and said,

"Er.. okay, well, yeah, I'm just gonna go." Keirnan then hastily walked out of the armory and started toward the clinic.

"_How can I tell them about this? Hordak and Shadow Weaver want them in live combat situations?" _He sighed, but slowly started to accept the inevitable. Whatever Hordak wanted, he got, and that's all there was to it. Keirnan made it to the clinic and walked inside towards the patient rooms. Keirnan was relieved that it was relatively busy in the clinic. At least he could focus on working rather than having to tell Brittni about her mission. Brittni was in a room administering medicine to a patient, when Keirnan walked in. Brittni looked back and said with her usual bubbly tone,

"Keirnan! Glad you finally made it! What did Lord Hordak want?" Keirnan opened his mouth to speak, but Brittni cut him off. "Never mind! We're busy right now. You're needed in room 6. There's a 20 year old male with a third degree burn over 18% of the body. It was from an L-29 shot to his left upper leg.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Keirnan shouted with instant regret. Brittni and the patient stared at him, completely stunned at what he just said. Keirnan's face turned red, he coughed a little, then said, "Oh, uh, forgive me. I uh, I'm just so glad to help other- yeah, I gotta go wash my hands and take care of the patient, thank you, Nurse Brittni!" Keirnan then scurried away towards room 6. He was just very relieved to not have had that painful conversation he was going to have with Brittni; even though it was inevitable. Keirnan went to treating the patient while he contemplated how that conversation was going to go that night. Eventually, after the clinic was closing down, Keirnan and Brittni headed for home. As they were walking down the hallway, Brittni started telling Keirnan about her day.

"You really came at the right time. It was relatively quiet before you showed up, then bam. Right before you got there, we had 5 admits, and a few transfers. Glad you came when you did. We had to treat some crazy wounds…" She continued to speak, but Keirnan's mind kept trailing off.

"_All those people that entered the clinic… What if Brittni and Brett are next?" _

"KEIRNAN!" Brittni shouted. The yelling stunned Keirnan. And he gasped,

"Oh! Sorry, Brittni, I just… I just have a lot on my mind." He said with displeasure.

"I'll say!" Brittni exclaimed, "you've been weird ever since your little date with Hordak!" Keirnan shushed her,

"Shh, easy. You have to be respectful to Lord Hordak. He knows everything that goes on around here." Brittni interjected,

"Well, what happened? Something obviously shook you up." Keirnan sighed.

"It'd be better if I told you and Brett together." He said as calmly as he could muster. Brittni blinked a couple of times, nodded and said,

"Okay, that's fair." A minute later they had finally arrived home to see Brett sitting at the dinner table tinkering with a little robot.

"What'cha got there, Brett?" He looked up and said,

"Hey, guys. Check this out, I made this robot today!" He closed a metal plate and screwed it shut, then placed it on the table. It looked like a camera on treaded wheels.

"Ooo," Brittni said, admiring it. "What does it do?"

"He passes butter." Brett said, leaning back in the chair with his hands relaxed behind his head.

"Seriously? Yeah, that's practical." Brittni said sarcastically towards the robot. She then remembered the pancakes. "Although, it would have been useful this morning." Brett smiled, and said,

"Inspiration." Brittni chuckled. Then turned towards Keirnan.

"So, Keirnan, tell us what's going on with Lord Hordak." Keirnan's heart sunk. He took a deep breath, then said,

"Why don't you two have a seat on the couch." They both nodded and went over to sit down. Keirnan joined them on a chair opposite to them. He put his head in his hands, rubbed his face and took another deep breath. The Twins stared at him, attentively. He began speaking,

"Well, as you know, I had a meeting with Lord Hordak. He…" Keirnan paused for a moment. He was about to continue when Brett interjected.

"He wants us assigned to active duty, doesn't he?" Brett said with a smile. Keirnan was stunned upon hearing what Brett had proclaimed. Brittni then chimed in,

"We were wondering when you were going to say something." She giggled. Keirnan's jaw dropped so hard, it probably ruptured the floor.

"How- but- you- wait-" Keirnan could not get more than a single word out. The Twins started laughing. Brett spoke up,

"Oh, come on Keirnan. How obvious can it get? Hordak summoned _you, _personally to his lab?"

"And then you were totally bizarre at the clinic." Brittni added.

"Not to mention how upset you were, and how reluctant you seemed to talk to us about this." said Brett. Keirnan stared at them in pure disbelief.

"...Alright, but how could all that point to you being called into active duty?" Brett chuckled and said,

"Simple. Hordak wants nothing more than for us to quell the Princess Rebellion. He values skill and power. Our skills of observation and quick learning would be useful to him on the battlefield." Brittni chimed in and said,

"He summoned you, our caretaker, to us lab to let you know of his decision. Because of how much you care about us, that caused some serious shock and anguish to you. Which we totally understand and love you, too!" Brittni's eyes sparkled as she said this. Keirnan still looked at them in pure disbelief.

"And then Modulok told me earlier this week he wouldn't be at the workshop for a while as he was working on some new armor. He then asked me for some ideas on how to improve the horde armor. I gave him a list of equipment and gadgets that would help combat engineers, so I told him. He said that my ideas would work for mass production. I knew that was a flat lie. We don't have the resources to mass produce my ideas implemented in armor. But we would have enough for at least a prototype to see if they would be practical in field situations." Brittni then scooted closer to the front of the couch, unable to contain her excitement.

"Ooo! And Modulok came and asked me the same thing, only with medical tools and equipment." Brittni said, gleefully.

"Put that all together, and Hordak had to be itching to put us out in the field." Brett concluded. Keirnan was completely dumbfounded at that point. The Twins were good. He sighed, took a deep breath then said, with a slight hint of dysphoria, but acceptance,

"Alright, it's true. You probably knew all this even before Hordak did. You're going on your first mission in just a few days. Tomorrow, you'll be reporting to Commander Octavia, and she'll give you further instructions." The Twins jumped up from the couch and cheered.

"Woo! Yeah! We're going on a miss-ion, we're going on a miss-ion!" They cheered, simultaneously. Brittni quickly noticed Keirnan faking a smile. She towards him and kneeled down next to him, then put her hand on his knee.

"Hey, we're going to be alright. We're doing this for the greater good. The Princesses are bringing chaos. We're gonna bring order to this planet." Brett walked over to him and chimed in,

"It's true, Keirnan. Besides, we've got the best training this planet has to offer. Not to mention our quick learning and observation skills. We'll take down a princess before she even knew we existed." Keirnan cracked a smile and held out his arms. The Twins embraced him. A tear fell down his cheek. He sniffled a bit.

"You are so crying, Keirnan." Brittni said with a giggle. He started laugh-crying as tears fell down his face.

"Oh, there's no point in lying. I totally am. But you know what, you both are totally prepared. I just hope that this really is for the greater good." They then heard a knock on the door. The Twins pulled away, and Brett went to answer the door. He opened it, and greeted a courier. The courier brought in two big briefcases, each marked with the Twins' names. They both gasped in amazement. They cleared the kitchen table and put the briefcases on it, completely covering the table. They opened the briefcases, and sure enough, to their amazement, their armor had arrived.

This was the real thing. Tomorrow, the Twins would prepare for something that would change their lives.


	4. Chapter 4: A Whirlwind of Emotions

**I was originally going to release this chapter at 6000+ words. I feel like the last 5 pages or so were pretty rushed, so instead, I'm going to divide this chapter in half. I hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 4: A Whirlwind of Emotions

That night was a whirlwind of emotions for Keirnan and the Twins. The Twins were both ecstatic, while Keirnan continued to harbor his worry. He was more comfortable based on their enthusiasm towards their mission, but still maintained his anxiety. After the Twins entered their room, he sat down in his lounge chair and reached under it. Deposited underneath the chair was a photo album that he had secretly kept. He took pictures of the Twins every chance he could, even though it was forbidden to take recreational photos. The only reason that Keirnan was allowed a camera was that he used it to take photos of patients in the clinic. Many times he snuck the camera out to capture every hint of the Twins' joy that he could. He opened the book and began reminiscing. One picture was them on their first birthday. Another photo was when Brett was taking apart a computer, and a photo that followed of him putting it back together. There was a photo of Brittni bandaging up a teddy bear that Keirnan smuggled from a field mission when he was a combat medic. Keirnan let a couple of tears fall out of his eyes. He wiped his eyes and continued looking through the album. The next set of pictures was of the Twins growing up. One had Brett pulling Brittni out of a toilet, one had Brett holding up a 3 eyed, 3 finned fish. Another had Brittni pinning another recruit in wrestling. He flipped through the album still letting tears fall out. The next set showed Brittni and Brett graduating from their respective training. Brittni from the HMA; (Horde Medical Auxiliaries), and Brett from the HEC; (Horde Engineering Corps). Keirnan smiled through his tears. He was so proud of them. At the end of the album, there was another photo, not in a photo pocket. This one had all three of them. Brittni and Brett were probably about 6 at the time. They were all holding hands. Keirnan started cry-laughing at this point. He put the picture back, closed the book and put it back under the chair. Keirnan stood up and walked to the bathroom. He began splashing water from the sink on his face, and then wiped it off. He looked at himself in the mirror and said to himself, almost as a self revelation:

"They'll be fine… They'll be fine." Keirnan took a deep breath. He then headed to his quarters and laid in bed. Meanwhile, the Twins were in their respective beds. Brittni was already under the covers while Brett sat on his bed, hands behind his head against the wall. Brett had a wide smile on his face.

"Man, it's about time they sent us out into the field. This is going to be amazing." Brett said with excitement, then added, boastfully, "we're going to be out in the field before Catra, Lonnie, and even Shadow Weaver's pet favorite, Adora." Brittni looked over at Brett and gave him a disappointed look. It was dark, but light enough for Brett to see.

"What's wrong?" asked Brett.

"Don't be mean about Adora." Brittni said with a glare and pursed lips. Brett's smile faded and he asked, confused,

"What? Are you serious?" Brittni's pursed lips formed into a grin and she started laughing. Brett laughed with her. Brittni then said,

"I know Shadow Weaver favors her, but I really like her. She's like, the most dedicated Horde soldier I've seen." Brett sarcastically replied,

"Pfft, until she has to get her perfect little hands dirty." Brittni cocked an eyebrow, and smiled,

"Is someone… Jealous?" Brittni asked facetiously. Brett scoffed and replied,

"Oh, please. Who's the one going on a mission in the next few days? Us! Aren't you excited?" Brittni's smile faded a bit, and she bit her lip. Brett noticed that really quick. He lifted his head from the wall, and looked straight at her. "Brittni, are you okay?" Brittni sighed and said,

"I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm totally excited to be out in the field. But… those horror stories we've heard about the Princesses. I mean, they do sound pretty scary." Brittni sat up and threw her legs over the bed, and continued, "I want to bring order to this planet. I want to be apart of the fight that stops the princesses."

"But you don't want to get hurt." Brett replied, almost reading her mind. Brittni didn't say anything for about a minute, then said, simply:

"...Yeah." Brett got off the bed, walked over to her bed, sat down and put his arm around her shoulders.

"I won't let you get hurt." A few tears fell from Brittni's eyes and she smiled. She wrapped her arms around her Twin and buried her face into his chest. Brett chuckled and then said,

"Hah, alright, alright. C'mon. The Princesses have powers, but so do we! We'll have plenty of intelligence on them, and we'll have a full strategy worked up. We'll be able to counter anything they got; especially with our new armor!" Brittni pulled her face away from her brother, and put her hands on his shoulders. Almost as if he said the magic word, her tears were gone and her eyes started shining,

"Oh, my gosh. Seriously, our new armors are SO cool!" She stifled an excited exclamation, and it came out sounding like, "mmmm!" Brett looked surprised, then chuckled a little.

"Geez, I'm glad that's all it took. Besides, you're mostly there just to help the injured. Heh, that is if we do have any injured." Brittni maintained her smile, and then said,

"Well, thank you for making me feel better." Her face then got serious and she continued, "but, it's war. One side or the other gets hurt. I want as little bloodshed as possible." Brett nodded. Brittni smiled again and said,

"Alright, get off, we both need at least eight hours of sleep! So go to bed, now!" Brittni lightly shoved Brett, and turned over. Almost immediately, she fell asleep. Brett chuckled, walked over to his bed, laid down and said,

"G'night Brittni."

The next morning, like the previous night was a whirlwind of emotions. There was a lot of rushing around. Brittni got up at 5:00, even though they didn't have to report to Octavia until 7:00. Brett, meanwhile was laying in bed, one foot on the wall, one arm; covered in drool, over his face, and the other arm off the bed. On top of this glorious display, he snored. He definitely wasn't a morning beauty. Brittni went over to shake him awake.

"Brett! Today's the day!" Brett continued to sleep soundly. Brittni narrowed her eyes at him. She started shaking him. Nothing. She grabbed his shirt and shook him back and forth. Some of the drool flung against her. Thanks to her observation, she was able to dodge it just in time.

"Ugh, gross. Brett…!" She muttered. She let him drop back on the bed. He continued to snore. Hearing him snore was almost disturbing to hear. It sounded like a jet turbine that had a brick thrown into it. She groaned, rolled her eyes, and headed out to the kitchen. She decided to make French Toast. As she was putting the eggs on the bread she wondered to herself,

_"What's a French, anyway? And what does it have to do with toast?"_ After she got done making breakfast, she put a couple pieces of french toast, and a glass of orange juice on a plate and headed to Keirnan's quarters. She opened the door to Keirnan's and turned the light on. Keirnan was still peacefully sleeping. Brittni took a deep breath, then shouted,

"KIERNAN! I BROUGHT YOU BREAKFAST!" Keirnan's scream that followed sounded something like a recent clinic patient that had to get three shots in the rear, simultaneously.

"What?! Who?! What?!" Keirnan sputtered at the invasion of his quarters. He looked up to see Brittni grinning brightly, her eyes closed, and one of her legs up. Keirnan rubbed his eyes, and muttered,

"Brittni, I love you, but it is way too early for-" He stopped and then added with more enthusiasm, "wait, is that French Toast?" She giggled and set the tray on Keirnan's lap. She was about to answer when the tumultuous sound of Brett barging into Keirnan's room caused her eyes to widen and her teeth to grit.

"Whoa! You made French Toast?!" Brett excitedly answered. He moved towards the bed and slid Brittni to the left.

"Wha- Hey!" Brittni tried to protest, her hands in the air. Brett reached for the toast until his hands were slapped by Brittni and Keirnan, simultaneously.

"Paws off!" Keirnan said, rather out of character. After all, you don't mess with a man's breakfast.

"Ouch! Fine, I'll get them from the kitchen." Brett said, rolling his eyes. He stepped out of the room towards the kitchen. Brittni gawked angrily at Brett as he exited and said,

"Oh! So you'll wake up for food, but not to me shaking you like an adrenaline shot abuser with Parkingson's disease! Ugh." She walked out of the room towards the kitchen and started bickering with Brett.

Keirnan chuckled and slowly tuned out the bickering that ensued as the Twins started fighting over the French toast. He was so grateful to the two of them. He began getting lost in his thoughts as he started reminiscing about the Twins growing up. He may not have technically been their father, but he was the closest thing to it. He sighed and smiled. Keirnan got out of the covers and sat up on the bed. He rubbed his eyes, and held his hands on his face for a minute.

_"Okay." _He thought to himself. _"It's time to get serious." _Keirnan officially accepted the reality that the Twins were going to be marching into battle. Instead of worrying or feeling sorry for himself, he decided that it was time to prepare them the most that he could before they headed out. He ate his breakfast, got dressed and walked out to the living space. The Twins were packing their essentials from a list they had received from a transmission. It wasn't too much, since the majority of their equipment would be issued, and even more would be in their armor. After all that had been happening, it was time to get serious. The Twins were finishing their breakfast after all the bickering had quieted down, and it was now 6:15. Keirnan walked over to the living room chair and motioned for the Twins to sit down as well. They all sat down and Keirnan said,

"Alright. Brett, Brittni. I was a combat medic a long while ago, so I'll give you the basics of what to expect in a combat scenario. I know you've both gone through combat training. Mission training is very similar, only they're going to go through specific objectives and run a hyper-realistic simulation that should be incredibly similar to what you'll face on your mission. They'll feed you all the intel you'll need, and make sure that you utilize your observation powers, accordingly. They'll issue you your gear, but you'll probably utilize Modulok's armor more than what's standard issue-" The Twins beamed up:

"Yeah! Our armor!" They ran out of the room, and Keirnan sat there, mouth agape at witnessing their speed. After a few minutes, both came back donning their armor, helmets on their sides. Keirnan was in awe at the Twins. That armor did look durable.

"So… What do you think?" Brittni asked, grinning with her eyes closed. Keirnan smiled and said,

"They're perfect." Keirnan then checked his watch. It was now 6:30. He continued, "okay, It's 6:30 right now, so you'll probably need to leave soon." The Twins nodded, then sat down on the couch. They all talked for a little while longer. About life, about the mission, and more importantly, how proud Keirnan was of them. At 6:40, a hoarse sounding, yet slightly feminine voice came over the intercom.

"Attention all troops assigned to the Elberon mission, report to Octavia in the Military Logistics Center in five. Do not keep me waiting." With that, the Twins went to say their goodbyes by embracing Keirnan. A three-way hug with two armored individuals was difficult, but was comforting all the same. The Twins pulled apart from the embrace. Keirnan gave a broken smile and said,

"Go. You definitely don't want to keep Octavia waiting." The Twins nodded and headed for the door. Brett spoke up,

"We'll be back, Keirnan. Don't you worry."

"I know you will." Keirnan said with confidence. The Twins smiled, and then walked out. Keirnan stood at the entrance as he watched the two march off to their first mission. He sighed hopefully and muttered to himself,

_"Be safe." _

The Twins armor, though lighter than typical Horde armor still had a deafening clank thanks to the acoustics of the hallway they were in. The fact that neither of them spoke, didn't make it any quieter. So many thoughts were running through their heads. What to expect, will they be safe, is Octavia really as bad as everyone says, are Princesses really that deadly? All these were the thoughts that could not be answered until they arrived at their location. That arrival would have to wait, however, as they were going to turn a corner, they nearly ran into Adora and Catra.

Catra and Adora were totally inseparable. Catra was some sort of a cat-human hybrid. She was mostly human looking, with distinctive feline features such as a tail. In addition, she had sharp teeth and claws on both hands and feet. Her skin was tan with darker tan stripes on her arms. She wore a dark-burgundy red sleeveless top with matching leggings that had rips to allow her legs more mobility. She wore no footwear as to allow her to utilize her feet claws. On her head was some kind of head piece shaped into an M. The headpiece protected the front of her head while allowing her bushy, long black hair to flow freely. Lastly, she had a pair of heterochromatic eyes; yellow on the left and turquoise on the right.

Adora on the other hand was a typical human girl. She had blonde hair tied in a ponytail, light skin, and blue eyes. She wore a unique Horde uniform. It consisted of a long white sleeve turtleneck that had the Horde symbol on the back. On top of the shirt was a quarter sleeved red jacket. She wore gray pants tucked into red and white boots. Adora and Catra were a year younger than the Twins, and as such, were still cadets. Adora got along with the Twins just fine, but Catra had some jealousy towards them.

"Oof! Hey, watch it!" Catra shrieked, jumping back on all fours. Adora and Brett laughed. Brittni, meanwhile, showed some concern,

"Oh! Sorry Catra. We didn't mean to scare you." Catra hissed, then brought herself to her two legs.

"You didn't scare me!" Catra choked out with agitation. She took a breath to maintain her composure, then folded her arms. "Why would I be scared of a couple of nerds?"

"Jealous that we can do better on a written exam than you without studying?" Brett sneered, facetiously. This made Catra hiss, brandish her claws and start trudging towards Brett. Adora held out her left arm to hold Catra back,

"Easy, Catra, you don't want Grizzlor on your case if we're late for training." Catra quietly growled. After a quick pause, Adora finally noticed the Twins' armor and commented on it.

"Whoa, where did you two get that… armor?" She admired it looking it up and down. Catra looked and noticed as well. For a second she was struck in amazement, but she quickly shook her head, and replaced amazement with a scowl. Brett spoke up and said,

"Modulok made the armor, we're going on a.. *ah hem*, special mission." Adora was awestruck. She gasped and asked,

"You're being sent to Elberon?!" The Twins grinned.

"Yes! We're finally going on a field mission!" Brittni said in her bubbly manner. Catra's eyes widened and her former scowl was now replaced with a stunned look. She said in an agitated manner,

"What! You two are going on a mission?! Our numbers are off the charts! Where's our mission?!"

"Well you are a year younger than us. Maybe next year." Brett said with a chuckle. He started walking away towards the Logistics Center. Catra huffed and said,

"Whatever, let's go, Adora, before Grizzlor has our tails. Er.. Well, you get it." She began walking towards the cadet training area. Adora spoke up,

"Alright, good luck on your mission, Brittni! Good seeing you." Adora then ran to catch up with Catra. Brittni smiled, waved goodbye, then ran to catch up with Brett. Not long after, they arrived at their location. It was now time for the toughest training the Twins have faced, yet.


	5. Chapter 5: The Test

Chapter 5: The Test

The Military Logistics Center was a big facility. To the left were the conference rooms and a small armory. To the right there was the simulation control room and an observation room. And in the center was the simulator. It had hyper realistic virtual reality that allowed trainees to literally feel their surroundings; a product of Shadow Weaver's magic and First One's technology. They had special bots that emulated what intel the Horde had on known princesses. That is to say, the robots would mimic a princess as far as Horde intel understood.

After checking their gear in to the administrator, The Twins entered a rather large conference room. There were tables on the left and right of the room. All the soldiers going on the mission were standing at attention in the center. At the far end there was a podium on a stage. Behind the podium, there stood Octavia speaking into the microphone. Octavia was a hybrid human-octopus. Octavia had green skin, two arms and two legs like a human. Unlike a human, however, she had four tentacles protruding from her backside. She wore an orange and brown uniform and brown boots. As the Twins walked into the room, Octavia stopped whatever lecture she was giving to the soldiers and glared at the Twins as they walked in.

"You're late." Octavia said, indignantly. Brittni was quickly apologetic,

"I'm sorry! Sorry, Octavia, we were just-" Octavia stifled her,

"Silence! That's Captain Octavia to you. Now, get into formation!" Brittni saluted her and quickly fell in to the nearest opening for formation and stood at attention. Brett rolled his eyes and slowly walked next to Brittni He then stood, not at attention, but kept his hands in his pockets. Octavia began to speak again.

"As I was saying, before being rudely interrupted. We will be running a simulation as to what kind of resistance you will face as we attack Elberon. It is a walled city, and is home to many Rebellion soldiers and harbors a lot of Bright Moon's supply lines. In addition to that, it can serve as a port in the storm within the Whispering Woods." The moment the Whispering Woods were spoken of the crowd let out a vociferous gasp. The Whispering Woods were an enigmatic taboo in the Horde. Many were afraid of the advantage that the Rebellion had, as well as the wild animals that lurked within the woods. Octavia took annoyance to this. She jumped from the stage in which the podium rested. Her feet landing sounded like a tank that had been air dropped onto a concrete floor. She got up and walked around the troops.

"Am I to understand that you; among whom are some of the most elite troops that were handpicked by Lord Hordak, himself, are showing-" She got up in one soldier's face before finishing, "FEAR?!" The soldier she shouted at started sweating profusely and stammered,

"Uh, uh, n-n-no, sir- I mean, ma'am!" Octavia growled. The soldier quietly whimpered. Octavia glared at him straight in the eye then started walking down the row. "Pathetic… Whatever cowards there are in this room will be weeded out by the end of this day. But those of you that do stay will be ready for these… Princesses. You will not give any quarter to the enemy. And most importantly, you will know no fear."

"Already there, Octy." Brett said, rather cordially. Everyone in the room gasped and looked back to see Brett standing there, nonchalantly. Brittni stared at him, mouth agape. Octavia growled, and made a beeline towards him, pushing everyone out of the way. Brett looked over at Brittni and she mouthed the words,

"_What are you doing?!" _Brett just shrugged.

Just then, Octavia got right up in Brett's face, and demanded,

"What did you say, RECRUIT?" Brett smiled, this made Octavia even angrier. He then spoke,

"I said, I've already got this. I'm not afraid of anything; much less a princess." Octavia growled continually then stopped. Her face twisted into an evil grin. She then started chuckling; a rather nefarious sounding chuckle. Brett's normally carefree face began fading into a concerned looking one. Octavia then turned her back to Brett and started walking towards the podium. As she got to the podium, everyone, especially Brett, looked at her uncomfortably. Octavia then spoke,

"Looks like we've got our first volunteer for the simulation, ladies and gentleman." Brittni gasped upon hearing that. Octavia continued to grin, devilishly, and continued, saying, "Everyone to the observation room." She looked at Brett then said more coldly, "And you, recruit, what's your name?"

"Brett, ma'am. The Observation Twin." That wiped the smile right off of Octavia's face. All the troops started muttering amongst themselves.

"Silence! All of you get to the observation room, except Brett!" Octavia yelled. The troops saluted Octavia, then marched to the observation room. Octavia turned to Brett and Brittni.

"So that explains that fancy armor ya' got there." She looked at Brittni and said, "You in the white armor." This caused Brittni to stumble a bit trying to salute Octavia. "When I said everyone except Brett, that means you, too!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" Brittni ran but looked back at Brett. For some reason, she felt as if they were being separated, permanently. Brett felt the same. Octavia then turned to Brett.

"Alright, tough guy. Let's see how your combat skills compare to your engineering skills. Get to the simulation." Brett smiled casually, saluted her, then headed into the simulation room. Brett was confident, but his attitude was mostly bravado. He had no idea what the simulations would be like, and frankly he was a bit nervous. Still, he soldiered on to the simulation room.

The simulation room was a dark room that had neon lights scattered all around it. Brett observed his surroundings to see if he could have some kind of advantage. He could see holographic projectors. Most likely to project faux enemies and other distractions. He could see little creases in the ground, on the walls, and the ceiling, indicating opening spots for robots. A distorted voice then came onto the intercom,

"Your task is simple, you just need to activate the emergency shutdown switch. Let's see your observation skills come to life, recruit!" Octavia's distorted voice sounded even more evil than her normal one. With that, she pressed a button, which activated the simulator. The sounds that followed sounded like a mix between a distorted mechanical noise and a warped digital synth noise. Simultaneously, the holograms shot up and Brett found himself in a forest. The trees were a dark purple, and the sky was covered by the tree tops. Brett put his helmet on and looked around. All he saw was vegetation. A feeling of uneasiness started settling on Brett. No sooner than he felt this uneasiness, did he hear a branch snap. He immediately turned towards it, but saw nothing. Several feet behind him, he heard a giggle. He turned towards it, but again, saw nothing. A drop of sweat crept down his face. He quickly gave himself a quick pep talk in his mind,

"_Alright Brett, come on, these are just simulation-" _He was unable to finish that thought as he got kicked by an unknown assailant from behind. He fell frontwards to the ground and coughed out an, "Oof!" Brett groaned. A malicious giggle followed. Brett turned towards it, but again, saw nothing.

"_Where are they coming from?!" _Brett thought to himself. He started getting up when he got hit with what felt like a laser penetrate his front chest plate. A couple of evil cackles followed Brett's cries of pain. Brett felt his chest plate. The laser didn't actual pierce him. It must have been a non-lethal shot. Either that or his armor managed to stop the laser. Meanwhile, Brittni shuddered at his pain. One of the soldiers near her started laughing and pointing at Brett. Brittni glared at him, and punched him on the side of the head, which caused him to collapse. Other troops took notice, and scooted away from her. Brittni sat at the edge of her seat and thought to herself.

"_There's gotta be something I can do to help him." _She walked towards the big glass that separated the observation room from the simulation. The observation room was on a second story, so the people observing had a higher view to see what was going on. Brittni looked around. She had already noticed what Brett did, but she also saw things that he would not be able to see from his position. She looked at one of the corner walls and noticed a long tube. It was a laser turret. Brittni gasped. She thought for a moment, then remembered. There was a communicator in the armor!

Back to Brett, he took up a combat position. He brandished his flamethrower, waiting for whatever was attacking him. He noticed that whatever it was that was attacking him was only attacking from three locations and had a certain algorithm of how it would strike. He pointed his flamethrower in one direction. When he aimed his flamethrower, the unknown assailant came flying from behind with its left leg pointing forward with the intention of kicking his back again. Anticipating this, Brett immediately turned towards it and evaded its attack by jumping to the left. He then turned towards it while it was in motion, and ignited the flamethrower, setting the dark figure ablaze. The dark figure shrieked an echoed scream as the flames engulfed it. It writhed around on the ground, flailing back and forth. Its shriek started stuttering kind of like a robot attempting to finish a vocal script with a damaged module. Right then, Brett was able to get a good look at it, and indeed, it _was _a robot that was shaped like a human. It was endowed with a cloak so that only its face was bare. The face looked like it was lifted with botox. The lifted face stretched the mouth into a permanent evil looking grin. The grin revealed razor sharp teeth. To finish the eerie looking robot, it featured a pair of glowing red eyes. He walked closer to make sure it was destroyed. However, it started twitching. Brett started backing away, until it started trying to get back up. Brett let out a gasp, then a growl and then quickly jumped on, and stomped its face in. The robot tried cackling again, only to meet the bottom of Brett's boot over and over again. The robot gave a final evil cackle until its face was finally crushed and its red eyes faded into lifelessness. Brett paued for a moment to give a relieved chuckle. His relief was short lived, however, as he was once again struck in the back by that laser. He exclaimed a groan and fell forward onto his knees.

"Agh!..Ergh…" Brett muttered. Brittni's voice then came onto his built-in radio in the helmet.

"Brett! It's Brittni."

"No kidding." Brett said, facetiously.

"Save it! I can see where the laser is coming from. It's at the northwest quadrant. And it's got the shut down near it!" Brett looked towards the north. He saw some of the trees that he could climb up.

"Thanks, sis." Brett said, gratefully.

"Hurry!" Brittni replied. Brett then started climbing up a tree. As he started climbing, he heard a door open from behind. He then heard a high pitched squeal coming from the same location.

"_Laser." _Brett anticipated to himself. Quickly, he jumped off the tree.

**ZRAAAM. **The laser came from a four legged robot with a round dome and dual laser cannons. The laser hit the tree and blasted it, causing splinters to fly in all directions. Quite a few of the splinters hit Brett.

"Ergh, what kind of simulation is this?!" Brett stipulated. But he didn't have time to wonder about that. Another laser was coming his way. He rolled to the right, away from the laser. It was only inches away from hitting him. He dove behind a tree in the more forested area, attempting to hide from the robot. With his back to the tree, he gasped for breath, wondering what his next move would be. He looked over from his cover to see the robot coming towards him from the north. As he was focused on that robot, he heard another door opening coming from the west.

"You gotta be kidding!" Brett said aloud. The one from the west started charging up the cannon and fired. Brett dove forward, barely dodging the laser. Brett struggled to get to his feet and looked in front of him. The first robot was getting closer. He looked back to the one to the west and saw that it was also getting closer. Then he got an idea. Brett did a quick calculation of how fast the cannons moved on the robots, and took the risk. He ran towards the first robot, and rolled forward to dodge a laser coming from it. The second robot started powering up its cannon.

"_There we go…"_ Brett thought to himself. He then pulled out the chainsaw from his right bracer, ran as fast as he could to the first robot and swung his chainsaw, slicing the cannon clean off. He then looked behind to see the second robot prepared to fire. Anticipating the second robots targeting board to shoot him, Brett rolled out of the way just in time to for the laser to miss him and hit the first robot. The laser went right to where the first robots cannons were a moment ago, hit the inside of the first robot, and caused it to explode from the inside.

A round of cheers and applause came from the observation room; Brittni being the loudest. She went on the helmet intercom and said,

"Way to go, bro!" Brett smiled, but didn't have time to waste. He saw the second robot trudging towards him, preparing its cannon. Brett looked at his surroundings and noticed the tree above him. He climbed the tree facing away from the robot and activated the saw from his bracer. He started cutting a large branch until it fell on top of the second robot. He had built these kinds of robots, and knew that an impact to the head would cause the programming to reboot, buying him a few seconds. He jumped towards another tree, climbed it, and started jumping from tree to tree. Meanwhile, the robot rebooted its programming and started skittering vehemently towards Brett, smacking trees out of the way as if they were little twigs. Brett looked back, the robot was closing in, firing its lasers. One of the lasers hit Brett's pauldron. The laser shocked him, but the armor managed to stop the penetration. On the opposite side, the turret; finally able to get a clear shot, was also firing at him. Between jumping from tree to tree, and attempting to dodge lasers, even with his observation skills, he couldn't avoid every single laser. Finally, when he thought he was getting close to the turret, his rear chest plate was hit from the robot's laser. He fell midair, striking the ground like a skif that had just lost its engine. Brett began coughing excessively. He put his palms down trying to push himself. No sooner did he attempt this did the robot use one of its claws to push him down.

"Oof!" Brett choked out. The robot then closed its claw around Brett's waist, binding his arms, and lifted him up towards itself. Its red "eye" shining brightly to his face. It let out an angry sounding digitized roar. Brett was truly afraid at this moment. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pummeling. Soon after, a familiar, unsolicited voice was coming from the robot.

"Not so smug now, are you, kid?" It was Octavia's. Brett struggled and groaned at his plight. At the moment of him about to give up, he heard a screeching crash right above the robot. He looked up and found Brittni with a shock staff plunged into the top of the robot. The robot started shaking and made fried electrical noises. It then loosened its grip on Brett. He wriggled away from the claw and fell backwards onto his back. He looked up at Brittni who smiled and winked at him. She backflipped off of the robot and not soon after, it exploded. Brett lifted himself onto his butt, holding his chest where he had been grabbed. Brittni walked around the robot towards Brett. She closed her eyes and grinned widely. She then held out her hand. Brett took his helmet off, showing his grin. He grabbed her hand and she pulled him up. An irritated voice came on the intercom,

"Brittni! What do you think you're doing?!" Octavia demanded.

"Helping my brother. You never said I couldn't!" Brittni snapped back. Octavia's growl sounded like a bear that had just witnessed its cubs get killed. She slammed her fist onto a button. No sooner did she do that, did all the doors the Twins could see open up. About a dozen more four legged robots crawled out from the doors, their sensors on the Twins. Brittni and Brett looked at each other, then started running towards the turret.

"Got a plan?!" Brittni gasped out as they were running.

"Working on it!" Brett replied. Brett looked back at the robots charging towards them, knocking trees out of their way. An idea popped into Brett's mind.

"I got it. Okay, Brittni, get out your defibrillator, and shock the right side of the robots. It'll mess up their targeting parameters." Brittni nodded. They climbed up trees near them and waited for the robots to get closer. As soon as they got close, they both jumped down on top of two respective robots. Brittni with her defibrillator, and Brett with his voltage discharger, shocked the robots' targeting chips. They both then hopped off and climbed back up to their trees to watch the carnage ensue. The robots started making fried electrical and confused computing noises and began firing their lasers at random, shooting many of the other robots. One by one the robots succumbed to the to the other robots' lasers. The entire room glowed a bright green and orange with the lasers and explosions. This continued until there was only one robot left that hadn't had its targeting parameters messed up. In their respective trees, the Twins peeked out from behind the trunk, looking at the robot. The robot scanned the area looking for the twins. Brittni then spoke up,

"You just inspired me. I know how we can get to the turret, safely." Brett smiled.

"Do tell." Said Brett. Brittni quickly went over the plan and they started jumping towards the turret. The remaining robot took notice of them and began giving chase firing green beams of death at them. As soon as they got to the tree closest to the turret, Brittni said,

"Okay, if you duck at a 45 degree angle, and I throw you just right, it should miss and hit the turret." Brett nodded. Using the powered part of her exoskeleton, Brittni had grabbed Brett's torso and tossed him. The robot and the turret targeted him and fired their lasers. Just as Brittni observed, Brett bent his body in a 45 degree angle and the two lasers shot past him. Octavia's face was in complete shock as the two lasers slammed right into their undesignated targets, destroying each other. The simultaneous explosions caused a converging shock wave that almost caused Brittni to fall from the tree. Meanwhile, bracing for impact, Brett turtled himself and let his armor take the collision as he fell to the ground. Octavia was furious at the destruction of the robots. However, at the same time when she regained some exuberance when she noticed that they still hadn't touched the emergency shutdown.

"HA! You still haven't activated the shutdown. Looks like you'll both fail togeth-" She didn't finish the sentence when she noticed Brittni aiming her wrist at the button.

"What do you think you're doing, recruit?!" Octavia demanded of Brittni. Brittni looked at the simulation control room, smiled, and said,

"Passing the test." She fired an adrenaline shot from her wrist that plunged right into the button causing the emergency shutdown. The crowd from the observation room went absolutely wild with cheering. Brittni jumped from the tree down near Brett.

"Are you hurt, Brett? Do you need medical assistance?" Brett coughed and chuckled simultaneously,

"Probably, but for right now, I gotta thank you. Thanks Britt, I couldn't have done this without you." Brittni smiled, and wrapped her arms around him. He laughed a little and likewise wrapped his arms around her. He then said,

"Alright, alright. C'mon, let's go rub this in Octavia's face.

The Twins then marched into Octavia's office, sat down in front of her desk, and received a, half-expected, verbally abusive lecture from her. Octavia was standing behind her desk, her fists being driven into it.

"The amount of insubordination! I should have you both not only dishonorably discharged, but arrested. Of all the insulting-" She was cut off by what sounded like a metal wall being torn open. All three looked back to see Octavia's door being flung open by what seemed like, living darkness. After the darkness dissipated, Shadow Weaver walked in. Octavia gasped, saluted Shadow Weaver, and started stammering,

"Oh! Uh, Sh-Shadow Weaver. What, uh, what-"

"Save your questions, Octavia. I am here to inquire of you." Octavia blinked her eyes a couple of times and said,

"Uh.. alright."

"I watched the video of the simulation. It seems that the Twins truly do have talent." Shadow Weaver said, calmly, putting one hand on each Twins' shoulder.

"Well… Alright, they did manage to hit the shutdown switch, but they disobeyed me! They were insubordinate! They-mmmph!" Shadow Weaver interrupted Octavia. She wriggled her fingers rhythmically causing her living darkness to gag Octavia.

"It's better for you to listen than to question." Octavia tried to speak, but only muffled noises came from her mouth. Shadow Weaver continued, "as I was saying, I am completely aware that you put the difficulty level on a far more advanced level than what they were prepared for. And despite this, they both accomplished the task. In fact, they accomplished it in record time, I might add." Shadow Weaver's voice became more sinister with the following statement, "These are among Lord Hordak's most elite troops, and you will address them as such. Do I make myself clear?" Octavia nodded her head erratically. Shadow Weaver snapped her finger and the darkness left Octavia's mouth.

"Very good, Octavia. I expect you'll have the rest of the strike team ready in time to conquer Elberon?" Octavia quickly replied with much humility,

"Yes! Yes, of course Shadow Weaver, it will be done."

"Excellent." Shadow Weaver said. She started walking out of the room but stopped, looked back and added, "Congratulations, you two. I look forward to your victory." She then left the room. It was silent in the room for a few moments. Octavia looked petrified at the Twins. Finally she spoke and said,

"C... Congratulations, Brett and Brittni. You will make a fine addition to the strike team. Go ahead and meet with your the rest of your squad. You're dismissed." Brett and Brittni stood up and walked out. Once they made it away from eyes and ears of Octavia, they revealed their excitement.

"That… was… amazing!" Brittni said, trying to stifle her excitement as they walked to the strike teams quarters. Brett laughed and said,

"It really was. Man, I guess we are cut out for this. If we can do that, there's no limit to what we can do in the field!" Brittni smiled. Brett thought for a moment and then asked,

"Hey Brittni, how did you get into the simulation and on top of the robot?" Brittni giggled and said simply,

"The vents." Brett choked on a laugh, put his arm around her shoulder and said,

"Seriously? Ha, you're probably the only person that would ever consider that." They both laughed.

The Twins excelled at the next bits of training, and even helped their squad pass the tests. Soon enough, it would be time for the siege of Elberon.

**Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. The following chapter is going to an incredibly epic battle. And just to tease ya, it's going to have Glimmer. ;) Thanks to all of you for reading :))**


	6. Chapter 6: The Siege of Elberon (Part 1)

**Hey! I have been sooo excited to submit this, it took me everything not to submit it Thursday. But here it is! This siege has so much detail that I had to split it up. I might even have three chapters about it. Regardless, I hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 6: The Siege of Elberon (Part 1)

After all the training that was done by the Elberon strike force, it was time for Octavia to reveal the stratagem that would lead the Horde to Victory over Elberon. Everyone went to the meeting room and took their seats at the various tables. Octavia stood in the center near a large square terrace. Octavia held up a remote and pointed at the terrace which activated a holographic projection. Octavia then began her discourse.

"Alright, troops, listen good. This hologram represents Elberon and the surrounding areas." Brittni and Brett observed the landscape and architecture closely. The city was shaped similar to a pear that was slanted upwards. There were a few districts that were designated by elevation. The bottom district was the largest and was shaped like the bottom part of a pear. This district held the market, guard barracks, and some civilian homes. The middle district; which was shaped like the neck of a pear, was the primary residential area as well as the rebel soldier's command garrison. The highest district, which looked like the head; the smallest part of the pear, had the mayor's castle. Octavia continued,

"As I previously stated, it's a walled city that serves as one of the primary supply lines of Bright Moon. What's more, it also harbors a great deal of rebel soldiers. On top of all that- and don't anybody dare start cringing, it will give us a fortified outpost within the Whispering Woods. This outpost will serve as a staging ground for when the Horde attacks Thaymore." Octavia looked around at all the troops and saw nothing but stern and confident faces. She smiled with her eyebrows lowered into a satisfied expression. She continued,

"That's what I like to see! Now here's the plan. We're going to have four tanks with us that will blast holes in two sections of the city's walls." Octavia pointed at the East and West walls. Those are away from the entrances, so that should buy us a little time to get our troops in and take positions behind cover. Once our infantry establish a foothold into Elberon, the rebel soldiers and guards will react. This scenario is going to serve two purposes. First, if all goes well, we'll be able to neutralize the defense of Elberon. Second, with the Rebel soldiers and guards concentrating the majority of their forces at the front, we will be sending in two infiltration teams to the rear. Their mission is to infiltrate the castle and capture the Mayor of Elberon. With him in tow, the rebels will be forced to surrender. We don't have a lot of intel on the troops stationed there, but be wary of both projectile and melee weaponry. Also, be warned that there have been… rumors of flying beasts controlled by the rebellion. Off the record, I think that it's just that, a rumor. However, we need to take into account any kind of asset that the Rebellion could potentially have. So, keep your eyes in the sky." When she said that, some of the troops looked at one another with concern. Otavia reiterated her opinion,

"Again, these are rumors, I doubt it's true, but we have to take everything with a grain of salt. At any rate, here's the rest of the plan. We're going to divide you all up into four squads, and-" Octavia was cut off by a soldier shouting,

"Hey! Can we come up with cool squad names!" Octavia glared and pointed at the soldier who spoke, then shouted back,

"Do not interrupt me, grunt!" The soldier's face turned white. Octavia then sighed and continued, "but… yes, you will need to give your squad a designation title. A big cheer came up from every soldier but was quickly stifled by Octavia,

"Focus, maggots!" She took a few moments for the room to go silent then continued, "Alright, each squad will have a unique set of units assigned to them. Two squads will join our armoured tank division. Those two squads will have six combat medics, six combat engineers, and 8 standard troops for a total of forty attacking from the front flanks. I already spoke of the other two squads that will be infiltrating from behind. Those two will have two combat medics, two combat engineers, and four standard troops. I will be leading the armoured division. Dragstor and Vultak will be leading the other squads. Now, you're all to split up to your assigned groups. Proctor Ingram will be handing out your military operation documents."

Proctor Ingram, who was working in the back stood up and began handing out the soldiers' dossiers. Inside each dossier was the battle plan, maps, targets, and indicated what squad they were assigned to. Octavia then spoke up again,

"Alright, we're going to take a ten minute break, then I want you all to meet your squad leaders. They'll give you more detailed instructions, and then we'll head out. Dismissed!" The troops saluted Octavia and filed out.

Brittni and Brett were assigned to the infiltration squad along with a friend they made named Viktor. Viktor was a human male with reddish brown hair and respectable build. He specialized in infiltration missions and as such, served as the second in command of the squad. They were in a hallway connecting the Military Logistics Center with a few other briefing rooms. They stood outside the room where they would meet with their squad leader, Dragstor.

"So, I get set up with the famous Observer Twins." Viktor said with a smirk, leaning against a wall, arms folded.

"You could only be so lucky." Brett said with a grin.

"This is pretty great, I'm glad we're staying away from the major fighting." Brittni said, hopefully. Viktor looked at her with concern,

"Don't be so sure…" He said, gravely.

"What do you mean?" Brittni asked with concern.

"I'm just saying, you'd better be ready to take a life. Just because we're not on the frontlines, doesn't mean that we won't have to get our hands dirty." Viktor said, indifferently. Brittni shuddered a bit, but quickly maintained her composure, and said,

"I.. I know that, I'm just glad that we're not in the thick of it." Brett took notice of Brittni's discomfort and quickly changed the subject,

"Well, either way, you'll be there mostly to patch us up if we get hurt. You've got nothing to worry about." Brittni gave a slight smile. Vikor smirked again and said, cordially,

"Yeah, infiltration missions are a lot more fun, anyway." He then changed the subject,

"So, what can you guys tell about me?" The Twins blinked at him. He then continued and asked, "You're the Observation Twins, right? Can't you find out everything about somebody just by looking at them?" The Twins looked at each other, smiled, and began their analysis.

"You're from the land of Rusasha. Your accent and hair color give it away." Brett said.

"Hah, that's an easy one. What else can you-" Viktor started to reply before Brittni interrupted him,

"You have a scar with a slight serration going from your left cheek to your chin. Clearly, you've fought a Colovian warrior, as that scar is distinctly from a Colovian knife wound." Viktor opened his mouth slightly and stared hard at the Twins.

"On your chest plate are two holes, measuring a centimeter in diameter. There's remains of acid scars pouring out of the holes. You fought against a rattler near pinetown." Brett deduced. Viktor's mouth was agape, and he stared at the Twins, his eyes squinted in astonishment.

"Lastly, I've seen how you look at-" Brittni started before Viktor stifled her by saying,

"Shh! Okay, I get it. I get it." The Twins started laughing until they saw Dragstor come trudging into the hallway. They all stood up straight, and gave him a salute. Not much was known about Dragstor, other than the fact that he was an utterly ruthless assassin. Nobody even knew what he looked like, as he always wore full body armour. The armour was similar to typical Horde armour, except that it was colored a dark blue. For weaponry he had a crossbow attached to his right wrist, some throwing knives, some smoke grenades, and a standard laser pistol. His helmet mask was an intimidating feature. It covered his entire face. The eye protectors glowed red. His voice was deep and distorted from the rebreather mask that he wore as he spoke,

"Alright…" His gravelly voice started, "into the meeting, let's get this over with. We got a lotta killing to do." That last part disturbed Brittni.

Everyone in their squad met in the room and took a seat. Dragstor went straight to the point.

"Alright, squad, this is how this is gonna go down, you already know about the tanks blowing holes in the front of the city, that's gonna be a distraction for the real party." Dragstor had a diagram on the wall representing the rear end of the city. He continued, "while the armour division and squads one and two are pounding on the walls over there, the majority of the rebellion's troops and guards will be deployed over here. While that's happening, we, along with Vultak's group will be scaling the walls on the rear end. There shouldn't be much security on that side, thanks to the distraction, so we'll be able to get into the castle from the walls. We had a spy that gave us a general idea of all the rooms in the castle, so we're not going in blindly. You'll find the map in your dossiers. Once inside, we find the mayor's office and capture him. The rebels are so predictable, they'll surrender immediately, and we'll own Elberon. Any questions?" A soldier raised his hand and asked,

"Yeah, uh… what's our squad's name?"

"That's your question?!" Dragstor asked, indignantly. He looked around at the rest of the squad and they all nodded. Dragstor sighed, rubbed his head, then chuckled. He then declared their name:

"We'll be called, The Specters."

The armoured strike teams; (Named the Black Bulls and White Wolves,) and the infiltration teams; (named The Specters and the Talons,) began their march on Elberon. In order to do so, they had to traverse through the Whispering Woods. The Whispering Woods was similar to the simulations. There were tall, green trees with purple leaves that covered the sky. It was not nearly as dangerous, however. During their sojourn, they met little to no resistance. The tanks had to run down a few trees, and there were some wildlife that made a pass at the soldiers, but there was nothing a few laser blasts couldn't handle. After braving through the Whispering Woods, the strike team was able to make it to the outskirts of Elberon without losing any units. They stayed in the cover of the trees to finalize their battle plan and get into positions. Octavia held up her fist, indicating the troops to cease movement. Accordingly, everyone stopped and layed low behind the cover. She pulled out her binoculars to observe the scene. There were guards on the walls, but not too many. Their tanks still wouldn't have a lot of time to fire before the city guard and rebel soldiers reacted. Octavia turned to the troops.

"Alright. I want The Specters and The Talons to head up to the rear of the city. Stay in radio contact, let us know when you're in position. Dragstor and Vultak nodded and said simultaneously,

"Let's move out."

Vultak was a vulture-like humanoid with a pointy beak-like nose, talons for feet, and wings on his back, wearing black Horde armor with the red Horde symbol emblazoned on his chest. His squad was, obviously, named after him. Both squads made their way to the rear outskirts of the castle and took cover behind a grove of trees. Vultak spoke up,

"Alright, Dragstor, I'm going to fly up and get some intel on how much resistance we'll be facing." Dragstor nodded, and Vultak flew high into the sky above the clouds so as not to be seen by the rebellion. After only a couple of minutes, a voice came on the radio.

"This is Beltran, are you in position?"

"Ready and waiting." Replied Dragstor. Brittni and Brett listened closely to the voice on the other end of the radio, something didn't sound right. Thanks to their power of observation, they were able to notice that the soundwave on that radio frequency didn't match the signal coming from the armoured division. They also had never heard that voice that was on the line, and thanks to their powers, they recognized every voice they heard. Brittni and Brett looked at each other and nodded, as if they both already knew what the other was thinking. Brett spoke up,

"Sir, I think something's wrong." Dragstor turned immediately towards Brett and said,

"Speak freely, soldier." Brittni and Brett then voiced their concerns and described the soundwaves and the voice. Dragostor folded his arms and looked towards the castle in deep thought. He then spoke,

"They know we're here."

Meanwhile on the armoured division's flank, Octavia had already ordered the tanks to move in with the infantry in close proximity behind them. Just then, Dragstor's voice came on the radio,

"Octavia. You need to order your tanks to ssssssss-" All of a sudden Dragstor's voice turned to static and the radio went dead. Octavia tried quietly, but fervently speaking into her radio,

"Dragstor?! Dragstor, come in! What about the tanks?!" She then realized that something was wrong and the tanks were most likely headed into a trap. She got on the armoured division's signal and began shouting,

"All tanks! Hold your ground! I repeat, cease movement immediately!" The two tanks on the right flank stopped, but the command didn't get through to the ones on the left flank. Octavia looked over at the two tanks that were still moving. Not even a couple seconds later the grassy ground that was supporting the two tanks, began collapsing until both tanks fell in, smashing against each other. The troops following the tanks, reacted quickly and ran to nearby rocks for cover. About 80 feet away from the fallen tanks, Octavia looked in horror as the tank gunners climbed out of the tanks only to get gunned down by sharpshooters on the walls. Octavia growled and yelled,

"Keep to the plan! Everyone in the armoured division, head to the right flank, tanks, fire at the walls, now!" The tanks didn't completely get to the flank, but did their best to fire on it.

ZRAAAM. ZRAAAM.

Their shots were true and they did manage to hit the wall. As the lasers were flying towards the wall, the guards standing there screamed and ran to the left and right of the wall. Once the lasers made contact, the concrete detonated into a powdery and rocky explosion. During this chaos, Octavia yelled,

"Alright! Fire onto the ground in front of you, there's a dirt trap, find where it is. The rebels are armed with sniper lasers, be careful!" No sooner when she finished, the tanks aimed at the ground and opened fire. The would-be trap was revealed and collapsed. The tanks then began going around the giant hole; the left tank going around left and the right tank going right. The Black Bulls that were pinned down behind the rocks ran over to the remaining tanks and joined up with the White Wolves. Both squads then followed their respective tanks and clustered behind them using them as cover as they crept closer to the wall. While this was happening, the guards and rebel soldiers assembled to the walls and began firing upon the tanks. The tanks used a great deal of their energy for firing upon the wall, so their cannons weren't fully charged. All they could do was cover the troops as they trudged towards the walls.

Back at the rear, Dragstor heard and saw the cannons fire on the walls.

"That's our cue, let's move, people! Brittni, Brett, keep a lookout on the walls, let us know if you see any movement!"

"Yes, sir!" The Twins replied, simultaneously. After they spoke, another soldier shouted,

"Sir! But what about Vultak?! He still hasn't returned!" Without looking back, Dragstor said to the soldier,

"There's no time. Viktor! You're leading the Talons! Move!" The Specters and the Talons started charging towards the wall. Thankfully between them and the wall were farm buildings and trees they could take cover behind. Building to tree, the two squads combed through the little village. Something seemed off, though. There was no villager in sight. While they were traversing, Dragstor held up his right fist into a square. Both squads stopped. Dragstor looked around, it was a little too quiet. Dragstor then spoke,

"Squad… Here they come!" As soon as Dragstor finished that declaration, the rebel soldiers did indeed come. From inside the buildings and the tops of the trees, the rebels had their projectile and melee weapons ready for them. The horde soldiers readied their weapons at the rebels, but there was a tremendous number of them. Brittni and Brett looked around scanning the area for any kind of advantage. The truth is, the two squads were outnumbered and in the wide open. Just then, the Twins heard a noise that sounded like a wind chime if it was produced on an electrical instrument. Following that noise, a girl, not much younger than the Twins, appeared in front of Dragstor. She was a short and stocky girl, sporting a chopped bob hairstyle that shifted from pastel pink to a sparkling purple underneath. She wore a purple suit, that covered her torso, and her upper calves. She also had a pauldron on her left shoulder, fingerless white gloves, purple boots, and a light blue cape. To complete the look, the girl had an aura around her that seemed to sparkle. The sparkly girl folded her arms and spoke,

"I thought the Horde was supposed to be good at this whole, invading thing." Dragstor chuckled and said,

"And I thought Princesses were supposed to be cowering in their castles ordering their servants to give them sponge baths." The girl glared at him and said, indignantly,

"I'll show you who's cowering…" With that, the sparkly girl disappeared. Dragstor looked around in shock, trying to figure out what happened. Not a moment later, the girl appeared in front of him again and punched him in the mask.

"Agh!" He groaned after getting hit. He tried to counter but the girl had disappeared and his arm swung at nothing. With him off balance, the girl appeared behind him and kicked him in the back. Dragstor cried out in pain then fell to his knees. Brett had observed closely what had just happened. He suddenly had flashbacks to the princess robot he had fought back at the Fright Zone. He muttered to himself,

"_This is just like the simulations… That princess can teleport!" _Brett was going to take a step but was halted by Brittni putting her arm out to stop him. He looked at her and she shook her head. They both knew that there were too many guards. If they tried to make any sudden move, the Rebels would shoot them down. Meanwhile, Dragstor was failing to fight the princess. Her teleportation was too fast and he kept swinging at air. Finally, the princess appeared in front of him again and punched him in the face, knocking him on his back. The distortion in his voice from the mask caused his next scream to sound rather frightening.

"Had enough, tough guy?" The princess asked, standing in front of him with a confident smile. In response, Dragstor started chuckling and picked himself up. He then said,

"Not even close. But why don't level the playing field?!" With that, Dragstor pulled a grenade from his utility belt and threw it on the ground. As soon as it exploded, a large cloud of smoke enveloped the area. When that happened, the Rebels and Horde began firing their weapons, aimlessly; hitting and missing each other. The Twins on the other hand, had observed closely where the rebels were and were able to pick their targets and avoid the laser fire. Brett dove behind a barrel and aimed into the smoke, he fired his laser pistol and heard a harrowing cry from a rebel soldier.

_"Got'cha.." _Brett muttered. Brittni, meanwhile had grabbed a couple of Horde soldiers that had been hit while simultaneously avoiding the lasers. She layed low, and slowly dragged them into a building close to her and began her medical treatment. Meanwhile, during the confusion, the princess looked around for a target, as she was just as blinded as everyone else. A target found her, however, when Dragstor jumped up and punched her in the face. This caused her to fly onto her back,

"Ow!... Ugh.." the Princess groaned. Dragstor brandished his wrist-mounted crossbow, aimed it at her and fired the bolt, only for her to teleport away just in time. The tables started to turn in favor of the Horde. Dragstor had yelled for all the remaining troops to get into the building where Brittni was patching up the troops. Whatever troops heard, did as commanded. Once they were all in, they heard the princess' voice coming from some kind of loudspeaker saying,

"Rear guard, retreat to the castle!" The Rebels jumped from tree to tree, and ran hastily to the wall. The squads couldn't see where they had disappeared off to, however. Dragstor looked around to see who was still present. The Twins, Viktor and only a handful of soldiers were still standing, unharmed. Many had been injured in the fight, and only Brittni and one other medic were uninjured. While the medics were at work, Viktor spoke up,

"This is bad, Captain. How did they know that we were here? What are we going to do now?!" Dragstor raised his hand to stifle Viktor, and took a seat.

"I need to think a moment. I-" Just then, the squad heard a crash upstairs and an agonizing scream. Everyone looked up. Dragstor stood up.

"Brett, Viktor, with me." They both nodded, and all three headed up the staircase. They crept down the hallway, following the grunts and groans. They were finally lead to a door at the end. Dragstor motioned for Brett and Viktor to go on each side of the door. He then ran to the door kicking it off its hinges, the wood splintering everywhere. The team moved in and found the source of the groans, which were now replaced by screams; a Rebel soldier that had a wardrobe on top of his legs. When the door was kicked open, he struggled to crawl away, but the wardrobe kept him pinned. Dragstor walked over and kneeled down next to him,

"Well, you seem to be stuck between a wardrobe and a hard place." The soldier continued to groan and sneered,

"Go ahead, kill me. You Horde scum have already taken everything from me!" Dragstor chuckled a bit, then said,

"Oh, I don't kill anything that has potential value to me." He then stood up and stomped on the wardrobe which caused the soldier to cry in pain. Brett looked disturbed. He looked at Viktor for some mutuality, but Viktor just kept a focused, but otherwise, blank face. Dragstor knelt back down, and continued,

"Tell me, Rebel, how did your comrades know we were here?" The soldier, struggling with his words, gave a pained response,

"You.. think.. That I know?!"

"You have to have some idea how they knew. I doubt they keep you this uninformed. Then again, you Rebels are tactically inefficient."

"We managed to ambush you! Agh.." The soldier managed to shout out, despite the pain. Dragstor was motionless for a few moments. He stood up again and stomped the wardrobe even harder. The soldier screamed a deafening wail that would put a banshee to shame. The soldier let a few tears fall out and managed to choke out,

"Please.. Stop…" Dragstor got up in his face and said,

"Are you going to cooperate?" The soldier nodded, weakly. Just then, Dragstor, Brett, and Viktor heard someone approach. It was Brittni. Brittni looked around shocked at the door that was broken and flown against the opposite wall.

"What's going on-" She began to say, then she noticed the Rebel soldier and gasped. "Captain! What are you doing?!" Dragstor paused for a moment, his breath sounding irritated.

"I'm interrogating a prisoner, Brittni. Get back to tending to the wounds that his people caused!" Dragstor said, pointing at the soldier. Brittni protested, saying,

"B..But, Captain!" Dragstor then stood up and walked up to Brittni, his boots sounding like a cannon going off each step. Brittni shuddered and swallowed.

"Do you have a problem with my methods… soldier?" Brittni was definitely intimidated and stammered,

"I.. I.." She sighed and said, "No, sir…"

"Good. Now, get back downstairs and save the rest of our men. Now!" Brittni's eyes had become glossy from the stress of everything going on, but she turned away before Dragstor could see her tears. She looked at Viktor and Brett. Viktor maintained his desensitized face, while Brett motioned his head for her to leave the room. Brittni sniffled and ran out of the room downstairs. Dragstor then turned back to the soldier and knelt back down to him.

"I'm going to ask you again, soldier; and trust me when I say that this will be the last time I ask you." He grabbed the Rebel by the hair and asked the question, "how did the Rebellion know we'd be here?" The soldier coughed a few times then said,

"It was… I dunno his name… but… he was that… vulture-humanoid." Brett and Viktor gasped. Dragstor was taken aback. He let go of the Rebel's head, and stared blankly at the wall. After a few moments, Dragstor muttered,

"...Vultak…"

**"Vultak! You treacherous, turncoat, two-faced, traitor! Since when did you start helping the Rebellion?!"**

**\- Probably Hordak.**

**I will write a personal story for anyone that gets that reference. Thanks so much for reading! If you paid close attention to the first episode of She-Ra, you find out what happens to Elberon. Much love to y'all :)**


	7. Chapter 7: The Siege of Elberon (Part 2)

**Part two of the exciting; (and deadly) siege of Elberon. Are you rooting for the good guys or bad guys? Maybe there is no good or bad guys. After all, this story _is _called, "Morally Ambiguous." Well, enough chatter, let's begin!**

Chapter 6: The Siege of Elberon (Part 2)

_"Vultak…" _The thought kept resonating within Dragstor's mind. That didn't make any sense to him. They both had worked together for years. Vultak had been absolutely loyal to the Horde. He obeyed orders, verbatim, even if it meant slaughtering innocents. Dragstor paced around the room, his hand on his head. Viktor spoke up,

"No way! Captain, he's lying, there's no wa-"

"He's not lying." Dragstor interrupted Viktor, "he couldn't have known about Vultak unless he was apart of their plan. But that doesn't matter right now, what matters it what happens moving forward." Dragstor then stopped his pacing and turned his attention to his second-in-command, "Viktor?"

"Sir?" Viktor replied, standing at attention.

"Go downstairs and check on the rest of our teams." Viktor nodded and headed downstairs. The rebel soldier continued to grunt and struggle under the wardrobe. Dragstor then looked at Brett,

"Brett. How good of a lie detector are you?" Brett grinned devilishly and said,

"More accurate than a polygraph, sir."

"Excellent…" Replied Dragstor, and they both looked at the soldier.

_Meanwhile at the front end of Elberon_,

Octavia's forces were facing heavy resistance. The Horde soldiers took positions on any piece of debris and rubble they could get behind. Once the Horde soldiers got into position, the rebels and guards started pouring out of the city towards the makeshift entrance that the tanks had created. Octavia, brandishing her rifle, ran to join the soldiers. No sooner did she join the soldiers did they come under fire by the rebels. Luminescent lines of heated light were thrown back and forth between the Rebel's and Horde's laser weaponry. Both sides began taking casualties. The fire from the rebellion was coming from the ground as well as above, pinning much of the Horde soldiers down. Most of the Horde soldiers kept their heads ducked down and fired blindly to keep the rebels from advancing. Octavia, posted near a broken part of the wall was looking for a way to flank the rebels. In front of her were a few buildings that had been damaged from the blast that some rebels were held up in. A laser blast interrupted her thoughts, and she ducked her head back behind the wall. She blind fired a few lasers towards where the shots were fired, which ceased that firing. She looked again to scan the rest of the battlefield. It was then she saw a tower off in the distance that had laser fire coming from it.

_"Snipers…"_ Octavia thought. She then got on the radio.

"Armour 3, target that Eastern tower. We've got snipers!" As soon as she said that, the tank on the left aimed its cannon at the tower, charged it up, and let loose a big line of green plasma towards the tower. The ball of plasma caused a massive explosion, completely obliterating the top of the tower. With the snipers down, the Horde was able to get up from their positions and begin firing more earnestly on the rebels. A shout was then heard from the rebels.

"Fall back to the middle checkpoint and regroup! Release the beast!" The rebels then started retreating, firing and running, simultaneously. The Horde soldiers kept their heads down and fired at the rebels, hitting a few, but letting most escape. A cheer from the Horde soldiers was sounded. Octavia was proud of her soldiers but she had to remain phlegmatic. She yelled to the soldiers,

"That's a good job, team, but we're not out of this yet! White Wolves, Black Bulls, let's move-" Octavia's words were cut off by a thunderous roar that echoed in the sky, as though it were bellowed from a colossal lion. The soldiers stopped their cheering and looked skywards.

"What in the world…" Octavia began to say as her and the squads bore witness to a behemoth in the sky. It looked like some kind of gigantic, brown lizard with wings. Octavia and the troops, stood in awe, too shocked to move. At that moment, Octavia said, almost inaudibly.

"So.. dragons are real."

Meanwhile, back at the downstairs of the building that the Specters and Talons were recuperating in, Brittni and the other combat medic, named Jackie, had tended to all the troops that were injured. Viktor had just come downstairs to find Brittni tying a splint on one of the soldiers legs. He knelt down next to her and asked,.

"What's the teams' status?" The soldier screamed and writhed in pain as Brittni tightened the splint. She looked at Viktor and then said,

"He'll be fine. Everyone's stable, but they'll need to take it easy for a few minutes while the dressings and antibiotics settle. We've got four that weren't injured. What are our orders?"

"Captain Dragstor and Brett are getting whatever they can out of the rebel, upstairs. Once they're done, we'll know what to do. Brittni looked away for a moment, seemingly in deep thought. She took a deep sigh. Viktor noticed that and said,

"Listen, this is war. It gets ugly. That's just how it is." Brittni stood up and started walking away,

"I know. I get it. I just…" She took a deep breath and then said, "I just thought that since I had seen so many combatants at the clinic. Laser burned skin, amputated limbs, permanent scarring… But to witness it happening-"

"Listen. I get it. This is your first combat mission. The battle fatigue is getting to your head. You just need to give yourself a minute. Take a few deep breaths." He went over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "I hate to be like this, but we're in the middle of a battle. We need you at your best. Okay?" Brittni nodded,

"Ye.. Yeah, I'm okay. Alright." She said, gaining more confidence. Viktor smiled and nodded. Just then, they heard yelling from up the stairs. Brittni immediately ran up the stairs, with Viktor following closely. They entered the room where the rebel was being interrogated, when they saw Dragstor kneeling down holding a knife to the rebel's throat, the rebel was in the middle of speaking, but the only part Brittni and Viktor heard was,

"...I… swear… that's all… I know…" Brett looked at Dragstor,

"He's telling the truth, sir."

"Good. You have been most helpful. Now, I'll reward you with a quick death." Just as Dragstor was about to pull the knife towards him, Brittni yelled,

"Stop! Wait!" Brett looked over, a little shocked. Dragstor didn't look, but stayed his blade.

"Is there any particular reason that you're interrupting us, AGAIN, Brittni?" He demanded, indignantly. Brittni stammered with her following words,

"I..I just.. Y.. You." Dragstor then pressed the knife a bit, allowing a bit of crimson liquid to trickle down the knife.

"We might need him!" Brittni yelled, impetuously. Dragstor began retracting the knife, then looked at Brittni,

"Elaborate." He said, callously.

"I mean, he's already given you all this information… But.." She thought for a moment, then quickly said, "What if he's lying? Like, if he's not telling the truth. We'll need him to get the right information. Brett spoke up then,

"He's not. I-" Brittni looked at him wide-eyed. Brett understood what she was saying and then continued, "-I mean, well, we are human, who knows. Yeah, let's keep him for now." Dragstor stood up and said,

"We don't have time for this. Viktor, get the rest of the squad mobilized. We've already wasted enough time, and I don't know how long the distraction is going to last. We need to go in five. Is that clear?" Viktor nodded and went downstairs. Dragstor then turned to Brittni.

"Get him patched up and walking, Brett, bind his wrists, then meet us downstairs." Dragstor handed him some rope. Brett replied with,

"Yeah, you got it, sir." Dragstor then went downstairs, while Brett started lifting up the wardrobe. He grunted and said,

"Geez, no wonder you were in so much pain." Brittni then pulled the rebel out from the wardrobe, all the while the rebel shrieked and writhed in pain. Brett went to tie his wrists when Brittni said,

"Hang on! Geez, I haven't even started my treatment." Brett knelt down next to Brittni and said,

"Brittni, he's a rebel, he doesn't need to be comfortable-"

"My patient, my rules!" Brittni snapped.

"He's not a patient, he's a-" Brett started but was quickly interrupted by Viktor,

"Hey! You two hurry up, we're leaving!" Brett glared at Brittni, then stood up and walked downstairs. Brittni pulled the rebel up and moved his back to the wall. She ripped the part of his pants where his legs were stuck and removed his kneepads. She quickly examined the damage. Several broken bones, deep penetrated contusions. He would need to have surgery, but she injected him with morphine and some antibiotics to stabilize him. The rebel groaned but then said,

"Th..thank you." Brittni smiled at him and replied,

"You're welcome, your armor saved you. But I'm glad to help. If I have a chance to save a life, I take it." The rebel coughed, and looked at Brittni, his eyebrows narrowed at her, and mouth wide opened.

"Save a life? Save a life?! Tell that to my family! My friends! Everyone that the Horde has taken from me!" He began coughing erratically, but his anger kept his mouth going, "and tell that to my village that was burned down just for existing!" Brittni was completely speechless. Her face was a look of somber confusion. After a few moments she said,

"N..No, the Horde doesn't burn down random villages. W..we're trying to save Etheria from the Rebellion and the Princesses!" The rebel looked at her, a mixture of horror, confusion and anger on his face,

"What?! Save Etheria?! By killing innocent people just for living their lives?! You-" The rebel was interrupted by yelling downstairs.

"Brittni! Hurry up, we're going!" Brittni switched glances between the rebel and the door. Finally she said to the rebel,

"I'm sorry." She then ran out of the room down the stairs. On the way downstairs, time seemed to pass by much slower. Thoughts raced through her head,

"_The Horde doesn't attack random villages… Only strategic ones. We're only fighting insurgents… We're working towards peace." _She got to the top of the stairs and looked back. Her last thought before going downstairs was,

"_But he was so sincere…"_ Once she was downstairs, Dragstor gathered everybody around and gave the battle plan.

"Alright, we're down to half our original force so getting into the castle is going to be a little more tricky. Our original plan to scale the walls is gonna have to be expedited… and loud. Brett, you can rig up some C-4, right?"

"You're not saying…" Brett started.

"That's exactly what I'm saying, we're going to have to blow our way through. It's not ideal, and we're going to lose the element of surprise, but we've wasted enough time already. Can you make it happen, Brett?" Brett nodded, pulled some material out of his pack and got to work.

"Everybody else, get your weapons chambered, and your armour tightened, we're going in hard and loud. Jackie, you stay with the rest of the wounded, and keep that rebel docile. If he makes a move, shoot him. Jackie saluted him and said,

"Yes, sir!" Brittni then piped in and said,

"Sir, should I stay as well?" Dragstor shook his head and said,

"No, we need at least one combat medic with us. Alright, the rest of you, with me. Let's do this." With that, the remnants of the Specters and Talons followed Dragstor out of the building. They went to the last building adjacent to the field that separated the farm buildings from the wall. The squad was up against the wall waiting for Dragstor's word. Dragstor pulled out his binoculars and scanned the walls. The rebels were ducked behind the crenellation, their weapons aimed, waiting for their targets to appear. He looked to the right and saw a few more buildings and trees. Dragstor thought for a moment.

"I have an idea. Brett, you get that C-4? How powerful is it?" Brett then held up three pieces of C-4, and said,

"Enough to crumble those walls, sir." Dragstor nodded and said,

"Okay, team, here's what's going to happen. We're going to lay down some covering fire from the left of this building. That'll draw the enemies towards us. Meanwhile, Brett, I want you to approach from the right. Go around those buildings and hug the wall until you get directly under the portion where the guards are. Set the charges, blow the wall, and you'll neutralize the guards. Everyone understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Everyone replied, simultaneously. With that, the teams moved to the front of the building that was facing, opposite the city wall. Meanwhile, Brett made his way to the right. Once they took positions, one of the troops peaked around the corner only for a rebel's laser to graze the front of her helmet and melt the visor off.

"Agh!" The soldier yelled. She then ripped off her helmet and threw it. The moment it was thrown forward, it was fired upon by a barrage of laser fire, filling it with more holes than swiss cheese. "Oh, my…" The soldier commented, distressed at the remains of her helmet. Dragstor took notice of this and looked at the surroundings. He took notice of some boulders that would provide adequate cover, but the snipers curretntly had them pinned down as they kept firing at the edge of the building. Dragstor fingered around his belt and picked out a grenade. He then yelled to his squad,

"Alright, I'm gonna throw this smoke grenade. Once it's thrown, they're going to start firing." He then turned to Viktor and said, "Viktor, once they have a break between shots, I need you to take the rest of your team and run to the boulders over there, you'll have a clearer shot and it'll distract them while Brett gets into position. Understood?" Viktor and his squad nodded. Dragstor then pulled the pin and threw the grenade, allowing smoke to envelope the area. Just like Dragstor predicted, the snipers immediately took potshots at the smoke, hoping to hit some of the Horde squad. After about fifteen seconds, the snipers stopped firing.

"Okay, go, go!" Viktor shouted. He and his squad then ran towards the boulders. During this action, there were a couple of snipers anticipating this and fired into the smoke. They managed to hit one of the Horde soldiers in the leg,

"Aghhhh!" The soldier yelled as he fell forward, in between the boulder and the building. Without thinking, and trusting her instincts and powers, Brittni rushed towards the fallen soldier.

"Brittni! Wait!" Dragstor adjured her, but she didn't listen. She had studied the snipers firing pattern. She waited for a couple of shots fired near the building, then she ran forward, stopped, waited for a few more shots behind and in front of her, then moved again. Getting close to the soldier, she dove over him, simultaneously grabbing him, and rolling towards the boulder. Dragstor was speechless, but quickly regained his composure and yelled,

"Good save, Brittni! Talons, light 'em up!" At his command, Viktor and his squad started firing at the walls, mostly hitting the crenellation. While the snipers were focused on the commotion going down towards the boulders and buildings, they didn't realize what Brett had in store as he set the C-4. Once it was set, he ran like a cheetah being chased by a crystal spider. Getting away from the wall rather quickly, Brett dove behind a tree and pulled out the detonator.

"_Boom."_ He muttered to himself. Once his thumb squeezed the button, the C-4 blew the foundation of the wall, causing it to cave in, and forcing much of the rebel soldiers to fall through. An ensemble of shouts and screams permeated the air as the rebels fell into the rubble and debris that was now in place of where the wall was. The Horde squads cheered. Dragstor yelled to the squad,

"Alright! Go, go, go!" On his command, the squads began charging and firing their lasers at the pocketful of resistance that was left, and neutralized them. The Specters and Talons then began pouring into the castle courtyard, brandishing their firearms, Brett and Brittni scanned the area and found no guards or soldiers. They gave Viktor a thumbs up. He nodded.

"Clear." Viktor declared. Dragstor nodded and then said,

"Good work, team. Now we just need to get into the castle. Specters, with me. Talons, I need you to stay posted inside the entrance. Don't let any rebels sneak up on us. Understood?" The two squads said in unison,

"Understood." Dragstor chuckled,

"Let's get that mayor." With that, they all made their way to the entrance of the castle. Dragstor kicked open the door, and the two squads poured inside, not knowing what they were about to experience.

Meanwhile, near the front of Elberon, Octavia and the two squads were awestruck by the dragon flying above them. It was making circles before it landed on a building relatively close to the wall where the Horde soldiers were. Octavia's lip quivered, beginning to let the fear overcome her. To the even greater surprise of the Horde soldiers, a magnificent development came about with the dragon.

It spoke.

"Who are you to invade this city, ravagers?" The dragon inquired, its voice deep and rugged. Octavia stared in complete disbelief. She looked at the other squads. They looked at her, almost demanding some guidance with their gazes. Those gazes reminded Octavia that she was their leader. She stiffened her upper lip, nodded at the soldiers, faced the dragon and narrowed her eyebrows at it. With every ounce of confidence she could muster, she spoke boldly to the dragon,

"We are the Horde, and we claim this city in the name of Lord Hordak. We will gladly accept your immediate and unconditional surrender." The dragon glared at Octavia, and it was then that she got a better look. It had a pointy face with horns atop its head, and one horn atop its nose. Its mouth was filled with dense, bony teeth. Thick scales covered it's entire body, while pointed scales adorned its spine. The menacing yellow eyes completed its frightening appearance. In response to Octavia's bold statement, the dragon simply let out a deafening roar. The soldiers were literally taken aback by the dragon's vocal force. When the roar ended, the dragon flapped its wings and took flight, going straight up. Octavia yelled to the troops,

"Open fire! Get the tanks' plasma cannons charged and ready!" The Horde soldiers began firing their weapons. The dragon flew to the right, dodging the majority of hits from the lasers, but got hit a few times. It let out a distressing roar, indicating that they injured it, albeit a little bit. While the soldiers were trying to concentrate their fire upon the dragon, it flew towards them. What happened next was both frightening and amazing. The dragon opened its mouth, and it seemed like a fiery whirlwind began forming in it. The dragon then roared which propelled the fireball at one of the tanks. Once the fireball hit the tank, it detonated into an explosive inferno. The explosion caused a shockwave that knocked most of the troops off their feet. Octavia was laid out flat on her back. She used her tentacles to push herself back up and growled. She looked at the destruction. As her soldiers were picking themselves up, she yelled at them,

"All infantry, find cover!" Immediately, the soldiers sprung themselves up and ran towards the nearest buildings. A couple soldiers went and hid behind the other tank that was still standing. Octavia ran to them. As soon as she ducked behind the tank, the dragon came back for another run, building up its fiery whirlwind. As it flew towards the remaining tank, the charged up plasma cannon fired, hitting the dragons right wing. The dragon roared in agony which caused the fire whirlwind to fly out of its mouth hitting the right side of the tank, instead of the tank directly.

"Dive!" Octavia yelled. The two soldiers and her dove away from the tank as the dragon's fire hit the right tread. The tank flew to the left on its side next to the other tank, but didn't explode. Following the tank incident, the dragon took a nosedive into the ground, digging up dirt as it tunneled through the grass. Between the tank toppling and the dragon's crashing, Octavia's ears began ringing. Her vision had become blurred, and she was laying on her stomach. One of the soldiers began shaking her. Octavia groaned, grabbed her head, and used her other hand and tentacles to push herself up. The other soldier spoke up and said,

"Captain, look!" Octavia looked over at the dragon. It remained motionless. Octavia started shaking her head, her vision becoming more clear. She looked back at the tank. The male soldier asked,

"Is it dead?" Octavia looked back at the dragon, then said,

"Can't be sure… It's not moving, though. We need to get back into the city. The rebels are probably evacuating the citizens, and-" A thought then popped into her head. Her voice then became agitated, "the rebels are heading back to the castle to stop Teams Specter and Talon. We need to get that tank operational." Octavia then went with the two soldiers to start pulling the tank towards them, back on its tread. While they were pulling it, they heard a weakened, yet irate roar coming from the dragon. They looked over at it and found it slowly picking itself up. Octavia then yelled to the two soldiers,

"Get this tank down!" Using her tentacles, along with her and the two soldier's strength, they managed to pull the tank down. At this point, the dragon had fully picked itself up. It looked back and glared at the Horde soldiers. Octavia in a few swift motions, jumped on the tank and pulled open the manhole leading into the tank. She found the driver unconscious, but still alive. She pulled him out and threw him out of the way. She then jumped in and rotated the turret to face the dragon. The dragon growled. Octavia charged up the cannon and fired a line of plasma towards the dragon. The dragon jumped to the left, but was too slow. The plasma grazed its right legs and part of its oblique. The dragon roared in pain, its roar sounding more somber than angry. With the little energy it had left, it began hopping into the woods, disappearing behind the trees. Octavia opened the manhole and peaked out. She and the two soldiers stared dumbfounded at the scene that just took place. The soldiers took off their helmets and looked to Octavia. They looked disturbed out of their minds. And after what they had witnessed, they probably were. Octavia hoisted herself out of the cockpit and simply said to them,

"Well done, soldiers." They both cracked open half smiles and saluted her. Her voice got more professional, and she asked,

"Now… Do either of you two know how to drive a tank?" The female soldier raised her hand and said, half confidently.

"I.. I can.. Sorta." The male soldier chiggered,

"Yeah, if you want her to hit every building before getting to the castle."

"Shut up!" Yelled the female soldier.

"Enough. Both of you get into the tank and let's regroup with the squad." They both nodded and hopped into the cockpit of the tank. All three then rode the tank into the city, barrelling over the debris. There weren't any people; soldier or otherwise that were in sight, so they kept moving to the building their squads were last located. When they arrived, they found the Black Bulls. The leader of the Black Bulls, named Lieutenant Jameson saluted Octavia.

"At ease," She said, cordially, "what's the situation?"

"Well, ma'am. Lieutenant Aisha took the White Wolves to give chase to the rebels, so I sent some of my men with them. We've been holding this position, waiting for the cavalry." Jameson looked at the tank, "looks like that's our cavalry." Octavia nodded and said,

"We need to get to the castle, I'm sure that most, if not all the citizens have been evacuated at this point, the rest of the guards and soldiers have to be heading to the castle to stop Dragstor and Vultak's squads."

"Ma'am," Jameson started, "how could they know about the Specters and Talon's mission?" Octavia stared blankly at the horizon, then sighed.

"Somebody must have tipped them off. How else could they have known to trap our tanks and have sharpshooters at the ready?" Jameson muttered a low groan. Octavia continued, "It must have been somebody that knew our plans. But only you, me, Aisha, Dragstor, and Vultak knew of this attack. It wasn't you, me, or Aisha, because obviously we wouldn't put ourselves in danger. Dragstor's the one that warned me about the traps…" She drifted off, and Jameson finished her thought by saying,

"So, that leaves Vultak." Octavia continued to stare blankly, considering what she was hearing. She didn't want to believe it, but all evidence pointed to it. She sighed and said,

"Get the rest of the Black Bulls moving, we need to catch up to the White Wolves and get to the castle." Jameson saluted Octavia and yelled to the rest of the squad,

"You heard the lady. Black Bulls. Let's move it!" The Black Bulls began heading out. Octavia stood there, gazing at the corpses of the Horde soldiers that lay all around her. The sight of such morbidity caused her to begin lamenting. Wiping away a tear, and replacing her face with an irate scowl, Octavia muttered,

"Vultak… You'll pay for this."

**Dang, y'all. Octavia and Dragstor are out for blood, now. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading as I did writing it. Leave a review if you can. Those are the little things that motivate me to do the best I can! The next chapter should be the conclusion of the Siege of Elberon. I can't wait to post it! Much love!**


	8. Chapter 8: The Infiltration

Chapter 7: The Infiltration

_Meanwhile at the Castle…_

The Specters and Talons moved into the castle with, surprisingly, no resistance.

"It's quiet…" Brett muttered.

"Too quiet…" Brittni chimed in. A hushed giggle went around the squad. Dragstor turned towards everyone. Even though he wore a mask, they could tell he was not impressed. Everyone quieted their laughter. Dragstor then looked around the room they were in. The room was dimly lit, but he could see that it was a very elegant and luxurious building. In front of them was a staircase that lead to several rooms. To the left and right were end tables, couches, and even a fireplace in the corner. Below their feet lay diaspro red tile that was covered by several rugs made from safavid silk. Dragstor knelt down and felt it.

"This is some of the most expensive material in all of Etheria." He muttered. He stood up and walked forward continuing, "and they lay it here as if it costed them pocket change." He inspected the other features in the room: There were granite walls, stained glass windows, rosewood tables, and marble counters. The most ostentatious object was the golden chandelier that hung above the staircase. For some reason, all of these pretentious objects made Dragstor angry. He spoke a little louder, saying,

"They just have to have the best. The most expensive…" He picked up a nearby vase and studied it. He looked at the rest of the squad. They were completely bewildered by what Dragstor was saying. The more he looked at his surroundings, the more he was filled with a vindictive rage.

"And they forget about the common people." His voice was almost shouting at this point, "They don't care about our struggles; our plight!" He was pressing the vase together, slowly cracking it, when Viktor went up to him,

"Captain Dragstor!" He attempted to stifle his own yelling but let some of the harsh tone come out. Dragstor looked at him, and Viktor's face turned more morose. Dragstor's muscles started relaxing and the vase stopped cracking. Viktor put his hand on Dragstor's shoulder and said,

"Sir, are you okay? I don't mean to circumvent your authority, but you almost gave off any stealth advantage we had." Dragstor put the vase back on the pedestal and sighed.

"Forgive me, squad. I'm letting my personal feelings get in the way of the mission. No more of that." He looked at the rest of the soldiers and they all nodded their heads. He continued, "At any rate, I have a trackerpad that is tracking all heat signatures within a fifty foot radius. I can see three clustered signatures, so we'll divide up into teams of three. I'll take Rogers and Scarlett and head upstairs to the East door. Viktor, you take Levi and Ethel and head up through the middle door. Brittni, Brett, and Nico, you three have the upper west room. The rest of you, stay here and guard the door. Stay in radio contact. Everyone understand?" Everyone said in unison,

"Understood, sir." Dragstor nodded and said,

"Good, now move out!"

The three teams moved to their designated areas. And began their sojourns to find the mayor. Starting with the Twins' team, they entered the upper west room and found themselves in a long hallway. According to Dragstor's trackerpad, the heat signatures were at the end of the hallway. The hallway was rather wide. On the right side were a few doors that lead to restrooms and closets, nothing particularly interesting. On the left were end tables that had busts of different people that the Twins' didn't recognize.

"Kind of a creepy place this is…" Brett muttered as they walked. Nico nodded, but Brittni seemed mentally distant. Brett noticed and asked, "Brittni? You okay?" She snapped out of her thousand yard stare and said,

"I just…" She sighed and continued, "That rebel soldier that was underneath the wardrobe…"

"What about him?" Brett asked.

"He told me that the Horde had killed his family… His friends. He said the Horde burned down his village 'just for existing.'"

"Brittni, he's a rebel, he'd say anything to get you to sympathize with him. He wanted you to let your guard down." Brett insisted. Brittni scoffed and said,

"Brett, he wasn't lying. I could tell by his vocal frequencies. They rang with conviction."

"Maybe he's a fantastic liar." Brett suggested, almost skeptically.

"Well, it sounds like you want to believe he's evil." Brett stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Brittni.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brett demanded.

"You seemed pretty okay with him being tortured. And when I was trying to heal him, the only thoughts running through your head was restraining him. Hurting people is a lot easier if you believe they're evil." Brittni snapped.

"The rebels are evil, and of course I wanted him restrained!" Brett snapped back, "I didn't want him trying anything. He could have attacked you!"

"Attacked me?!" Brittni challenged, "he couldn't even move, let alone attack me!" Brett took off his helmet and began rubbing his forehead with his free hand. He sighed then looked at Nico, who just stood there, completely dumbfounded. Brett then said to him,

"Nico, go check out the room over there for a moment."

"Uh.. yeah, right away, sir, uh, Brett." Nico said as he opened the door and walked into the room. Brett then looked to Brittni,

"Are you really trying to have this conversation right now? Seriously? I'm not sure if you noticed, but we're in the middle of a battle." Brett sneered. Brittni stood there for a moment, saying nothing. She then took off her helmet revealing tears strewing down her face. Brett choked on a gasp, and then gave a loud sigh. He started scratching the back of his neck. He then walked over and wrapped his free arm around Brittni. She dropped her helmet, letting it clatter a few times on the wood floor, and fully embraced Brett, silently crying.

"I'm sorry…" Brittni said, somberly. Brett started quietly shushing her.

"No, I'm sorry, I get it, there's a lot of bloodshed you've seen today, and-" Brett's consolation was interrupted by clattering and grunting noises coming from the room Nico was in. The Twins exchanged glances. Brittni quickly pulled away from Brett's embrace and unholstered her laser pistol. Brett did the same, and they both slowly crept towards the door. Brittni stood to the left of the door, while Brett moved right in front of the door to open it. Being cautious, his hand slowly reached for the handle. The moment his hand made contact with the doorknob, he heard a low scream slowly building up to a loud scream. Before Brett had time to react, Nico crashed through the door, breaking it off its hinges and completely splintering it. Nico and the door flew into Brett, knocking him to the ground, making him go unconscious. Brittni stared in shock and horror at what had just happened. After a couple of moments, she regained her composure and knelt down next to Brett and Nico. She was about to feel for a pulse until she heard a familiar, yet dreadful, noise. It was that electronic wind chime sounding noise. Brittni's heart sank as she realized that that sound could only mean one thing. She turned her head towards where the door used to be and saw the princess. The princess held a sparkly purple aura around her fists, and an enraged countenance on her face. She started slowly walking towards Brittni. Brittni's lip quivered, her fear slowly enveloping her. The princess then smiled devilishly and said,

"It's rude to walk into a room without knocking…"

_Meanwhile on Team Dragstor's front…_

Dragstor and his team moved into the East room to find themselves in a big and spacious library. Rows and columns of bookshelves towering at least twelve feet were spread out before them. Fascinated with history, Dragstor moved quickly towards the closest bookcase and pulled out a book entitled, 'Etheria: Past & Present. Vol. 1.' He was definitely going to have a field day when they took over Elberon. Upon noticing Dragstor's deviation, Scarlett spoke up,

"Uh, Captain, so, where are the heat signatures?" Dragstor put the book back, pulled out his trackerpad, and began studying it. The clustered heat signatures lay just behind the door to the north of them. Something was different, however. There was a single signature that was coming…

...From within the library. Dragstor turned towards his teammates and said,

"We're not alone. Lock 'n load." Scarlett and Rogers brandished their rifles and looked around the room. Dragstor continued to study the trackerpad. The heat signature was moving around the trackerpad at a rapid pace. Soon, however the trackerpad started making static noises and the screen started to blur.

"What the…" Dragstor muttered as he started tapping on the screen and pressing any free buttons. Eventually the trackerpad faded to static. Dragstor sighed, turned off the pad, and said to his team,

"We're gonna be blind for now. Stay frosty, and head to the north door." The team started moving towards the door, staying alert for any noise they heard. In the middle of the room there was a circular railing that showed the downstairs. The team heard a noise coming from below the rail. They all slowly crept towards the rail. Rogers got close to the rail and peered down, not seeing anything. The moment that he started moving away from the rails, both of his wrists were grabbed by a pair of purple, talon like hands. He gasped and grunted. The hands that grabbed him soon had a head and torso to match. Those bonelike wings, that beaklike nose, those glowing red eyes.

"...Vultak!" Rogers shouted, trying to pull away. The vulture-human hybrid let out a cackle, and using the strength of his arms and wings, he pulled Rogers out from the second floor, right behind his wings, causing him to fly down towards the first floor.

"Aughhh!" Rogers screamed as he was thrown from the balcony all the way to the first floor. To Dragstor and Scarletts perspective, Rogers seemed to fall in slow motion. He crashed into a bookcase, causing it to topple over onto another bookcase that seemed to have a domino effect with a few others. If Rogers wasn't dead, he was surely out cold. Scarlett's hands started shaking like a tremor, and Dragstor's mouth was wide open underneath his mask. Vultak then pulled himself up onto the railing and perched himself like a gargoyle. He had a sinister smile and said with a cackled laugh,

"Scarlett, Dragstor, so lovely to see you two again…"

_Meanwhile on Team Viktor's front..._

Viktor, Levi, and Ethel entered the middle room. The room looked just like a typical living room. Of course, being from the Fright Zone, Viktor and company had no idea what that looked like. Inside was a couch, a fireplace, some chairs, and a coffee table. In front of the couch and coffee table was a monitor of some sort. Levi and Ethel gave simultaneous verbal acclamation at the room. Levi went over and lounged on the couch and said,

"Wow, the Fright Zone doesn't have couches like this." Ethel nodded as she went over to the monitor and said,

"Yeah, no kidding. Why can't we have nice rooms like this?" She then started tapping on the monitor trying to turn it on. Viktor held his forehead, started shaking it, and groaned.

"Ugh, Levi, Ethel, this isn't the time for relaxing, we-" Viktor started, but then was interrupted by his radio going off. He pulled up his radio and said, "This is Vik, gimme status."

"Hello? Lieutenant Viktor?!" The static and pitch irritated Viktors ears and he pulled the radio away. Through the static, Viktor could hear the sounds of laser fire.

"Ergh... yeah, it's Viktor, what's going on?" He demanded. The Horde soldier talking on the radio was breathing heavily, and was breaking off between words. Levi and Ethel went up to the radio to hear more clearly.

"We're being attacked at the front entrance, the rebels- Augh!" An explosion went off, and the radio turned to static.

"Hello?! Soldier, can you hear me?!" Viktor growled and said to Ethel and Levi, "Let's get back to the entrance, now!" They all ran back towards the door that lead back to the front room of the castle. Viktor grabbed the doorknob but couldn't turn it. It somehow locked behind them when they entered the room.

"What in the…" Viktor started, until he saw a glowing ambiance in the room. He and the other two looked back to see the monitor turn on. Viktor cocked his eyebrow, and they all slowly crept towards the monitor. At first, the monitor only showed static, but slowly a picture came into frame. It was the face of the mayor. Levi and Ethel gasped.

"Is that the…?" Levi began.

"Mayor." Ethel finished. The mayor, a gluttonous looking man with a long brown ponytail and large sideburns, spoke in a deep, nasally voice, as though he had some kind of clog in his throat. He began laughing wickedly, his hoarse voice getting more high pitched as it went on. Viktor growled and said,

"I'm not sure what you're trying to do, 'your majesty', but you'd better surrender yourself now before we make you and everyone else we capture suffer." The mayor's toothy grin was unsettling towards Levi and Ethel, but made Viktor angry.

"You Horde monsters will never take Elberon, much less, this castle. You're trapped in that room, and my guards are getting to the castle as I speak." The mayor said, saliva flying onto the camera as he spoke. Viktor cringed at the mayor and said, impatiently,

"First of all, you're disgusting. Second of all, you really think a locked door is going to stop us? We don't have time for this." Viktor turned around and started heading back to the door, jiggling the lock again. Still no luck.

"Okay," Viktor started, "I guess we do this the hard way…" Viktor then took a step back, and with his right foot squared with his left, he lifted his leg and forced the bottom of his foot at the knob, completely tearing the door off its hinges, letting it fly off into…

...Some kind of abyss. Viktor shuddered and gasped lightly. He went over to the door and looked down and up. It was filled with complete darkness. Viktor's eyes got considerably wide. He then heard the disturbing laugh from the mayor. That insufferable giggle threw Viktor into a rage. He stormed over to the monitor, Ethel and Levi getting out of his way, immediately. Using the adrenaline from his rage, he picked up the monitor.

"What did you do?!" Viktor demanded. The mayor let out an uproar of laughter.

"If you think that's bad, wait 'til you see what happens next." The monitor went black. Viktor, in a blind rage, threw the monitor as hard as he could at the wall, the glass shattering and the plastic splintering. Viktor started breathing heavily, and let his head and fists fall onto a wall. Levi and Ethel looked at him, petrified. Viktor took a deep breath, then started rubbing his eyes.

"The door there leads to nothing. It's just darkness." Viktor said, trying to stay calm.

"The other door is the same…" Ethel said, glumly.

"Well, we need to find a way out of-" Levi started before he was interrupted by a sudden tremor in the room. Suddenly, the walls started moving...

...Towards each other.

_Meanwhile, back at The Twins' front..._

The princess continued to march slowly towards Brittni and then spoke,

"I don't want to have to hurt you, too. Give up, now. We're a lot more merciful than the Horde." Brittni stared at the princess in horror. She switched glances between her unconscious brother and her enemy, the princess. Each glance, Brittni's countenance grew more angry. Finally, the princess was within five feet away, and Brittni spoke up,

"I didn't know that throwing somebody through a door was considered, 'merciful.' I'll go ahead and stick with the Horde." Brittni then stood up and squared up her body in a battle stance. The princess glared and the aura around her hands tensed up. She ran at Brittni full force, about to punch her. Brittni dodged to the left, but heard the wind chime noise.

_"Oh, no…"_ Brittni thought to herself. The princess teleported from the front of Brittni to the left of her, causing Brittni's head to smack right into her fist. Without her helmet, Brittni was able to feel the blunt force of the princess' attack. Brittni screamed out in pain, but that wasn't all. The princess teleported behind Brittni and kicked her in the back, then quickly teleported to the right of Brittni and swept her legs, causing her to fall forward.

"Oof! Aughh…" Brittni yelled and groaned in pain. Even though she had her armour, the princess hit really hard. Brittni looked up and the Princess teleported in front of her with her arms crossed.

"Had enough?" The princess sneared. Brittni coughed a little bit.

"Yes…" Brittni said, sounding defeated. The princess smirked until Brittni added, "Because, you're not going to hit me again." The princess glared and growled at Brittni and and went to punch her in the face. Brittni rolled to the right, and anticipating the princess' teleportation, she held up her legs, kicking the princess as she teleported to Brittni's right. The princess flew back a few feet, rolling backwards on the ground.

"Augh! Ergh…" The princess moaned in pain and rubbed her head. At the same time, Brittni was running towards her, fist cocked back ready to punch. The princess teleported behind Brittni, only to once again get kicked by Brittni. Right before Brittni faked the princess out with that punch, she raised her legs and calculated when the princess would teleport behind her. The princess fell backwards again from the force of the kick. Brittni looked back at the Princess,

"How about you? Have _you_ had enough?" The princess growled and slowly stood back up, raising her purple aura'd fists. She ran at Brittni about to throw a punch, then she teleported. Brittni thought that it would be to her left, that time, but the princess wasn't there. She looked around the room, but the princess was nowhere to be found. Finally, the princess teleported right above Brittni and jumped on her shoulders, causing her to fall forward. Right before Brittni fell, she grabbed the princess' ankles and threw her against the wall, head first. The princess' cracked the wall, and screamed at the pain. The princess moaned as she lay with her stomach against the wall, slowly seeping down the wall until her knees reached the ground. The princess groaned quietly until she fell unconscious. Brittni was breathing profusely. She was on her knees with her hands on the floor. To be in a real fight with the adrenaline pumping was not something Brittni was used to. She looked over at the princess, and she was out cold. She then looked over at Brett and Nico. To her delight, she saw Brett lifting himself up in a seated position, holding his head, groaning.

"Brett!" Brittni exclaimed as she heard the sound of her brother waking up. She ran over to him and nearly tackled him to the floor as she wrapped her arms around him. Brett groaned and chuckled simultaneously as he felt the embrace of his sister.

"Ugh, what happened?" Brett asked, confused.

"Well, let's see. Nico got thrown through a door at you, causing you both to get knocked out. The one that threw him was that princess over there." Brittni held up a thumbs up pointing behind her and continued, "I totally beat her, by the way." Brittni winked. Brett blinked a couple of times and switched glances between the princess and Brittni.

"Wow, sis. You really are tough." Brett said, starting to chuckle. Brittni joked around and said,

"That'll teach you never to mess with me." And she stuck out her tongue. Brett chuckled even more until he heard the princess starting to groan. His demeanor became serious, and his eyes locked on her. Brittni unwrapped her arms around Brett and stood up. The princess began picking herself up. Brett looked around and found his laser rifle. He dove for it and aimed it at the princess. The princess took notice, gasped and started to teleport away. Before she could complete the teleportation, Brett fired the rifle. The laser flew fast enough to just graze the left side of her left leg. The princess cried out in pain and finally teleported away. Brett took a few deep breaths. Brittni ran over and held out her hand to pull him up. Once he stood up he said,

"Thanks. Alright, most likely she's teleported away to get medical attention. We're gonna need to stay frosty. She's most likely going to come back. Either that or protect the mayor." Brittni nodded in agreement. She went over to check on Nico and felt for his pulse.

"He's alive but his heart rate is really low. I don't think he's waking up for a while." Brett nodded and said,

"Alright, well, I hate to do this but we're going to have to leave him here for now. Prop him up in that room, and keep him hidden." Brittni nodded. She picked up Nico, and dropped him with his back against the wall. She then went back out of the room into the hallway.

"Okay, so what's our next move?" She inquired.

"We need to keep going towards those heat signatures, let's go." Brett said, already in motion towards the North door. Brittni nodded, and they both went to the end of the hallway and opened the door, entering the next room.

_Meanwhile, back at Team Dragstor's front…_

Scarlett was slowly backing away while facing Vultak. She was angry with him, of course, but she was even more afraid. Dragstor stood his ground. He simply said to Vultak,

"It's a pleasure to see you, Vultak. Now I can kill you, myself!" He growled, then fired his crossbow. The bolt flew towards Vultak's heart. Vultak, in quick succession grabbed the bolt right before it hit his heart, and simultaneously spun around and threw the bolt towards Dragstor. Dragstor dove to the left and rolled into a bookcase, grunting as books toppled over him. Meanwhile, the bolt that Vultak threw ended up hitting Scarlett in her left leg, just barely missing her armor. She screamed out in pain, as the bolt plunged deep into her leg. She immediately dropped to the floor, holding her leg, moaning. She raised her laser rifle and fired a few shots at Vultak. Just before the lasers made it to Vultak, he took flight up to the rather altitudinous ceiling, and started fluttering around the room. Scarlett fired a few more shots to no avail. Vultak then swooped down, his talons lowered to grab her. She gasped, and tried to crawl backwards, away from Vultak. Unfortunately for her, Vultak's talons gripped her by the shoulders. Just as soon as he grabbed her, he used the momentum of flight to throw her across the room. Scarlett slammed into a wall and became completely incapacitated. She lay there, back against the wall, completely unconscious. Vultak was floating above Scarlett and let out another cackled laugh.

"Too easy…" Vultak muttered, "now to finish off- YAGH!" Vultak was interrupted by a bolt that went through his right wing. The pain caused him to drop out of the air, slamming into the floor, chalking up dust. Vultak started coughing excessively, then looked over at the source of his wing's trouble: Dragstor. Dragstor reloaded his crossbow and fired another bolt at Vultak. Vultak quickly used his left wing to push his body out of the way, just missing Dragstor's bolt. Vultak growled and started flapping his wings, taking to the air again. Dragstor had reloaded another bolt and fired it, only for Vultak to aerial barrel roll out of the way. Vultak flew right above Dragstor, then did a nose dive towards him, his talons facing Dragstor. Dragstor tried to move out of the way, but was too late. Vultak's talons pummeled Dragstor into the ground, causing Dragstor to growl in pain. Vultak then grabbed both of Dragstor's wrists and crowed at him.

"You're finally getting what you deserve. You and the rest of the Horde scum!" Vultak declared, enraged. Dragstor groaned but managed to say,

"Why'd you do it, Vultak?! We were comrades! Battle brothers! What did the Rebellion offer you?!"

"Freedom!" Vultak, declared, " Hordak destroyed my home when I was barely hatching from my egg. I learned my history, and learned that I had been made to be a slave! The Horde took my life from me!" Dragstor grunted and looked around for any kind of advantage he could have. He noticed a chandelier directly above him and got an idea.

"You think the Rebellion is so perfect?!" Dragstor challenged. He then headbutt Vultak, the hard part of his mask hurting Vultak's beak. Vultak shrieked and loosened his grip on Dragstor's wrist. With his freed left hand, Dragstor punched the side of Vultak's head, then kicked him off. Dragstor sprawled out on the floor and raised his leg, launching it downwards onto Vultak's neck. Vultak choked out a shriek and dropped back onto the floor on his stomach. Dragstor then raised his crossbow and fired a bolt at Vultak's right palm, pinning his talon-hand to the floorboard. Vultak shrieked in pain, and went to pull out the bolt with his beak. Dragstor aimed at Vultak's left palm and fired another bolt, pinning that talon-hand to the floor. Vultak let out another deafening shriek, this one sounding more angry than afraid. Dragstor exhaled, heavily, then started walking around towards the front of Vultak. He knelt down and lifted Vultak's head up. He then simply asked,

"Vultak… How could you betray us like this?" Vultak spit in Dragstor's mask and yelled,

"The Horde destroyed my species! They took my village! My family! They took my life!" Dragstor started a low growl that slowly built up into an almost inhuman roar. He took a few deep breaths, then said, calmly into Vultak's face,

"No, Vultak, I am the one that is going to take your life." Dragstor then took a few steps back and fired his crossbow at the chandelier above Vultak. The bolt cut the chain, causing the chandelier to plummet right on top of Vultak, crushing him. The moment the chain cut, Dragstor felt immediate dysphoria for what he had to do. Dragstor stood there, motionless. He dropped his crossbow and shuddered at what had just happened. Emotions ran through his heart: Indignation, Confusion, Anguish. As angry as Dragstor was about betrayal, he could not help but feel sorrow for what he had to do. He knelt down and put his hand on Vultak's wrists. No pulse. He was really gone. Dragstor let his head down and said simply,

"Goodbye, old friend…"

_Meanwhile, back in the colliding room with Viktor, Levi, and Ethel…_

"What do we do?!" Ethel shouted in fear as the walls began colliding towards each other. Levi and Ethel were panicking, pushing the couch in a vertical position to try and stop the walls from colliding. The wall started slowing down a bit. They both gasped, optimistically, only to start groaning in dismay as the couch's arms began to splinter, and the couch starting to squish. Viktor in the meantime was looking for something, anything in the room that would shut down the walls. He flipped paintings off the wall, lifted up and threw around furniture, but found nothing. Viktor started quickly glancing at different parts of the room, all he could see was broken furniture, the walls caving in, Levi in a fetal position, freaking out, Ethel trying to push one of the walls, and the door he had kicked open.

_"The door…" _Viktor muttered. He then said, aloud, "Ethel! Levi! Get up, we're going through the door! Ethel and Levi looked over. Ethel tried to protest, saying

"But.. I thought you said-"

"You got a better idea?!" Viktor demanded. She let out a slight shudder and nodded. Levi picked himself up, and all three ran to the door that had been kicked open. The walls were getting closer and closer to closing in on the group. Viktor quickly shouted instructions,

"Alright! Levi, hold the right side of the door, Ethel, you hold the left! I'm gonna hold the bottom part of it. Go!"

The two soldiers nodded and obeyed, running out the door and gripping each side as hard as they could. Levi almost lost his grip, but Ethel held onto his back to prevent him from falling. The walls were within just a couple feet. Viktor had to shimmy through the rest of the wall collision.

"C'mon, Lieutenant!" Ethel shouted, anxiously towards him. His body finally made it with his back to the frame, but the walls were within less than a foot. Viktor pulled his remaining arm and leg out only to begin losing balance.

"Whoa-Whoa-AGH!" Viktor said as he began descending to the abysmal darkness. Before he completely fell, however. Ethel and Levi grabbed his wrists, preventing him from falling. Viktor let out a frightened, hearty laugh.

"Thank you, team, thank you!" He continued to laugh, while the two holding him started grunting, excessively. They pulled him up, and he managed to stand in the doorway, putting his hands on the top frame to keep himself up. He switched glances between Levi and Ethel. Levi spoke up,

"Uh… So what do we do now, Lieutenant?" Viktor thought for a moment and tried to look around. It was mostly darkness but there did happen to be a couple of tiny round lights that edged the walls that slightly illuminated them.

"Well, we're going to need to see." Viktor said. With his left hand, he pulled out his shock baton and ignited it, the green sparks, brightening the area, further. With the help of the green light, Viktor looked up and could see there was an edge. Viktor gasped. The other two looked up and saw what he gasped at.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do. I'm gonna need a boost up. I'm gonna get my feet on top of the frame and then pull myself up on that ledge, then I'll pull you two up. Levi and Ethel nodded and held out their free hands. Viktor stepped on each and they grunted as they both slowly elevated him up. He put away his baton and pulled out his knife. He stabbed the wall above the door frame as his feet got closer to the top of the frame in order to keep balance. Finally he got one foot on top of the frame, and then the other. Holding onto the knife with his right hand, he pulled out the baton with his left hand and ignited it, illuminating the edge. He was within reach. He put the baton on top of the edge and gripped said edge. He started pulling himself up, grabbing the other edge. A few grunts later, he managed to pull himself up to the top. He grabbed his baton and shined the area. Before him were a bunch of cables that ran vertically. Viktor illuminated the ground and saw wires and circuit boxes lining the floor.

"Hey! Viktor! What do you see up there?!" Levi asked,

"Come help us up!" Ethel added. Viktor bent down and grabbed the knife and plunged it into the floor near him to keep balance. He then laid on his stomach and leaned forward to pull his teammates up. He first pulled up Ethel who easily climbed up. Once she was up, she held onto Viktor's legs, and he reached out to pull Levi up. Levi grabbed Viktor's hand, but it started slipping.

"Oh, no, no!" Levi shouted as the grip loosened and he started to fall. Viktor quickly moved a little more forward and grabbed Levi's wrist. Levi let out a gasp of relief. Viktor and Ethel then pulled Levi up. Once everyone was on the platform, they stared in awe at what was before them.

"Is this…?" Ethel began.

"An elevator…" Viktor finished. We're going to have to climb these.

"Ugh, more climbing…" Levi muttered.

"Be grateful you're alive, dummy!" Ethel said as she punched his shoulder.

"Ow! Okay. Sorry, jeez." Levi said as he rubbed his shoulder. After all that, they all gripped the cables and started ascending. Once they got near the platform, Viktor held up his baton and illuminated the bottom of the platform. He found a hatch and twisted the circular handle, then pulled it open. A bright light radiated the team's eyes but also rejuvenated their resolve. They all climbed in, one at a time and found themselves in a concrete room.

"This place gets weirder and weirder…" Levi muttered.

They looked around and saw an open door. As they walked towards it they heard laser fire. Unholstering their weapons, the team ran through the door and realized that they were back in the front room of the castle. They saw the few remaining Horde soldiers had barricaded the door with bookcases and other furniture, also using them as cover as they fired through the windows. An energy blast hit a window where a Horde soldier was taking cover behind, and shattered the window. The soldier bent down, and turned his head. Viktor had run up to the window where the soldier was ducked under and fired blindly out the window, pinning the rebel that was firing at them. He then took cover behind the wall and looked down at the Horde soldier. Levi and Ethel also took positions at different windows and started firing at the rebels engaging the castle.

"What's the situation, soldier?" Volt demanded.

"Glad to see you, Lieutenant. We're holding the rebels off as best as we can, but they've taken out more than half my men. We're looking at a couple dozen and counting. I radioed Octavia and she said she was on her way."

"Hopefully she meant soon." Viktor muttered. He then said, aloud "alright, troops, let's push 'em back!"

_Meanwhile back at Dragstor's front…_

Dragstor went over to Scarlett to feel her pulse, luckily, she was alive. Dragstor ripped a piece of her pants off, then carefully pulled the crossbow bolt out of her leg. Once the bolt was out, he wrapped the cloth tightly around her leg. Dragstor then hoisted her over his shoulder and carried her. Dragstor went over to the circular railing and looked at Rogers. He was on his back, his legs situated on the bookcase he crashed into. Dragstor then shouted at Rogers.

"Rogers! Are you still with me?!" A groan was heard in reply. Dragstor sighed and said, "Rogers, you're alive! Can you stand?" Rogers groaned a bit more and tried to lift himself up.

"I… I can't feel my leg, Captain. I think it's broken!" Rogers said, with trepidation in his voice. Dragstor scanned the room for a staircase and found one. He quickly rushed down the stairs to Rogers' location. He then set Scarlett down. Dragstor looked at Rogers' leg and said,

"I'm no medical professional, but you'll definitely need surgery. I can do one thing, though- Oh my goodness, Rogers, what's that!?" Dragstor said while pointing. Rogers looked to where Dragstor was pointing, and while he was distracted, Dragstor gripped Rogers' leg and twisted it, resetting the leg. A vociferous cry of pain left Rogers' lungs as his leg was reset. He began moaning and whimpering in pain.

"You'll thank me later. Watch after Scarlett, I need to go grab the mayor." Dragstor said, ardently. Although he was whimpering in pain, Rogers managed to hold a thumbs up. Dragstor then climbed up the stairs. He went to the door at the end of the library where his trackerpad originally showed the heat signatures. Dragstor took a deep breath, then kicked open the door, brandishing his crossbow. He thought he would find the mayor in there. Instead he found a darkened room. He scanned around but could only see darkness. That is, until he heard that familiar wind chime noise, and saw two glowing purple auras in the middle of the room…

"Sorry, the Mayor can't see you right now, but I'll be happy to take care of you…"

**Hi! Thank you so much for reading this. I wanted to make a disclaimer that I kinda realized that I haven't been showing many of the 2018 She-Ra characters a lot of love, and I've been focusing a lot on my own characters. I just want everyone to know that I will have a major focus on more canon characters in the next many chapters. Don't worry, we're still in a prequel phase that starts right before the first episode of She-Ra. Soon enough, we'll have all the characters you know and love in the story. Thanks for your patience! :)**


	9. Chapter 9: Fallen City

Chapter 9: Fallen City

"Sorry, the Mayor can't see you right now, but I'll be happy to take care of you…" The purple, sparkled princess sneered as Dragstor scanned the room. He had his crossbow aimed at her and simply said,

"Sorry, I'm not interested in dealing with secretaries." Dragstor fired the crossbow at the princess, but she teleported right before the bolt hit her. After the bolt hit a wall, the door closed behind him. It was completely dark in that room, now.

"I forgot how annoying that is…" Dragstor muttered, remembering the princess' power of teleportation. He pulled out his knife and squared up his body, waiting for her to strike. He knew that before she would reappear, he would hear that wind chime noise. His muscles tensed up in anticipation. All of a sudden, she appeared to his right and kicked the hand that was holding the knife. Dragstor cried out in anger and pain as he dropped the knife. With the same foot that kicked the knife out of Dragstor's hand, the princess drew back her leg, then let that foot push Dragstor, then spun around and roundhouse kicked his chest. Dragstor cried out as he flew against a wall, cracking it. He slumped to the floor, fatigued from all of the fighting he had done up to that point. He was in a daze but managed to look up to see the princess coming at him. She ran at him full force with her right hand cocked back with that sparkly, purple aura. Once she was close enough she jumped with the intent of punching Dragstor in the face. Dragstor, with his adrenaline kicking in, rolled out of the way, causing the princess to punch the wall.

"Ah! Ow, ow!" The princess bemoaned as she held her hurt hand with the other. Dragstor took this moment of bought time to counter attack. He picked himself up and jumped at the girl, grabbing her head and pushing it against the wall. She was heavily pained, and her cry verbalized it. With her head still grasped in his hand, he threw her backwards onto the floor. He took a couple of deep breaths, then trudged over to her with the intent to continue pummeling her. She was about to pick herself up when Dragstor tackled her and hit her a couple of times in the face. She gave out frustrated and pained groans until she teleported away, and Dragstor accidentally punched the floor. He growled upon hitting the floor, but gave an even more excruciating cry of pain when the princess teleported on top of him, forcing his face into the ground. Through a combination of getting struck by other enemies, general fatigue, and the princess' attacks, Dragstor's body had finally succumbed to the punishment and lost consciousness. The princess wiped the blood from her nose and breathed deeply.

"So, there is a person under that armor…" She muttered. She looked at him for a moment, then said aloud,

"Well, you wanted to see the mayor. I'll take you to him."

_Meanwhile with the Twins…_

Brittni and Brett made their way through the door and found themselves in a room filled with… Mirrors. Mirrored walls, that is. They took a few steps in. As soon as they were both in, the door behind them shut, startling them.

"What the he.." Brittni started before she was interrupted by a distorted, omniscient voice coming from speakers above.

"Ah, more Horde scum. Come to play in my Mirror Maze, have you?" The voice said, cackling evilly. The voice was that same deep, nasally voice that tormented Viktor and his team: The Mayor. Brett groaned in frustration,

"Who are you? What is this place?" Brett asked, discontented. The Mayor cackled in reply,

"Ha! You barge into my home, attack my staff, and demand answers of me? How rude!" The Mayor continued laughing, bring static into the speakers. The Twins groaned and cringed at the static. Brett then yelled,

"Listen! We just want the Mayor. If you give him up, this can all end." Silence followed Brett's declarative for a few moments. Then all of a sudden,

"HAHAHA! You two think you can intimidate me? Do you realize how many of your comrades I've killed since this siege began? You're just pawns being played by Hordak!" The Mayor said, sounding more angry than before. Brett growled upon hearing that. The mayor continued, "I'll tell you what, though. If you manage to get passed my Mirror Maze, I'll surrender myself. What'dya say?" The Twins looked at each other for a moment, then grinned.

"Make it through your stupid mirrors?" Brett asked, chuckling.

"You really don't know who we are, do you?" Brittni chimed in. They both started laughing, together. An irritated growl came from the speakers,

"Enjoy your last minutes of bravado you have. You'll lose it as soon as you go through my mirrors!" The Mayor said, finishing his threats. After that, the speaker made a clicking noise and it went silent. The Twins looked at each other then went over to the entrance to the Mirror Maze.

"How hard could this be?" Brett commented, walking towards the entrance of the maze.

"He sounded pretty confident…" Brittni cautioned, putting her hand on his shoulder. Brett nodded in response.

"But he doesn't know who what we can do." Brett said, winking. Brittni smiled and nodded. With that, the Twins took a step into the Mirror Maze. The moment they entered, a mirror shot up behind them, preventing them from going back.

"That's getting really annoying." Brittni muttered. Brett looked around. It was the Twins' reflection all around.

"Kinda creepy…" Brett commented. They both then began walking. As they were walking, they heard a couple of hushed voices. They quickly unholstered their weapons and went back to back, brandishing their weapons, and scanning the area. All they saw were their own reflections. For a few moments, they kept their battle stance. After hearing nothing, they put down their weapons and turned towards each other. Brittni shrugged her shoulders. Brett looked around then said,

"Well, we're definitely not alone. Stay frosty." Brittni nodded, and they both continued their sojourn around the Mirror Maze. Thanks to their observational powers, they were easily able to navigate the maze without having to backtrack too much. The Maze was mostly a bunch of hallways filled with the mirrors. Sometimes they would get into rooms, but mostly it was hallways. As they were walking in one particular hallway, those hushed voices started up again. Once again the Twins brandished their weapons and looked around, seeing nothing but their own reflections. The voices stopped again.

"The Mayor's messing with us…" Brittni miffed. Brett gave a thousand yard stare at a particular mirror in front of him. Brittni noticed his beguilement and asked, "Brett? What do you see?" Brett held up his hand in a stifling motion then slowly walked towards the mirror he had been staring at. There was something different about this reflection. He had noticed that as he was walking towards the reflection, it wasn't completely in sync with his movement. He got within a foot of the mirror, stared deeply, and made a couple of faces. The reflection mimicked his movements and facial expressions. He stared even harder then sighed. He began rubbing his eyes, then started turning his head towards Brittni.

"Sorry, I think this place is getting to me-" Brett started until he turned his head all the way and saw the horror on Brittni's face. Her visibly shaking finger pointed at the mirror in front of Brett. Quickly, Brett turned back at the mirror. Although Brett's expression was that of perturbed horror, his reflection was different...

...It was grinning.

Before Brett could react, the reflection's arm came from the mirror and grabbed him by the throat,

"You're not real… I am" the reflection said, coldly.

_Meanwhile, with Dragstor and the Princess…_

Dragstor groaned lowly as he slowly awoke. His vision was blurred. He blinked a couple of times before he saw the princess in front of him waving. With adrenaline kicking in, Dragstor went to move his arms and legs, to no avail. He grunted as he tried to move them. He looked up at each hand and each leg. He was chained to a wall, it would seem. He looked around and found himself in some kind of cell.

"Have a nice nap?" the princess asked, sarcastically.

"It wasn't bad, though I admit I usually wake up to much older women." Dragstor shot back. The princess rolled her eyes and said,

"Your siege is going to fail. Your little soldiers aren't going to make it through the Mirror Maze. You've done nothing in this attack except inconvenience the Rebellion and the Horde." The princess said, sternly. Dragstor lowered his neck and started stretching it to the left and right.

"I wouldn't put your money on it. The Twins' are much more than they appear. They'll get right through any little trap that your precious, disgusting mayor has in store for them. This city will be rightfully claimed for the Horde, just as it should be." Dragstor sneered. The princess' face changed from cocky to incredulity. She glared coldly at Dragstor and asked,

"What did you say? 'Just as it should be?' You think that what you and the Horde are doing is the right thing? What did Elberon ever do to the Horde? There are innocent people here that are just trying to live their lives! Explain how their burned homes and dead family is, 'Just as it should be?!'" The princess said, accusingly, while pointing a finger at him. Dragstor's breathing became more agitated.

"You think that your little Rebellion is so noble? So perfect? How wrong you are. Let me educate you a little bit. When I was just a boy living with my family under the 'protection' of the Rebellion, how do you think they treated us common folks? My family were simple farmers. They taxed us to death and provided no protection, whatsoever. My mother worked hard to make sure we were raised correctly, while my father and older brother worked in the fields from the early morning to the late night." Dragstor's voice went from calm to bitterly enraged, "And despite all that hard work that my family performed, there was one point where they had to spend their tax money to buy medicine for me. Because they couldn't pay the taxes, guards were sent; not to protect us, but to arrest my father. My brother tried to fight them off, and in response, they killed him. After that, it was just my mother and me. Where was the pure, infallible Rebellion that you love and worship at that time? Nonexistent. They were the evil, tax leeching, punishers that only cared for their own. With the Horde, I found purpose, honor, and most importantly, protection. You can defend the Rebellion all you want, but understand the truth. The Rebellion is not what you think it is." Dragstor started breathing hard after that long lecture. For the longest time, neither of them said anything. The princess' scowl turned more into a somber, puzzled look. After a little while, the princess finally broke the silence.

"...I'm sorry…" the princess said, a tear strewing down her eye. She sighed, and rubbed the tear from her eye. Although Dragstor's story did enlighten the princess' mind, she knew that it did not excuse Dragstor's actions, "that may be true, and that is sad, but that does not excuse this attack. Yes, you and your family were innocent, but guess what? So were all the civilians that have been killed today, and yesterday, and everyone that's died since the Horde started the war!"

"Save your sanctimony," Dragstor said, callously, "the Rebellion brought this upon themselves. If they'd surrender, then we wouldn't have to kill everyone in our way."

"We will never surrender." the princess said, confidently.

"Then you will die." Dragstor retorted.

"I've heard enough from you. It's time to take you to the Mayor…" the Princess said

_Meanwhile back at the front door of the castle..._

Viktor and the remnants of his squad were still having trouble holding the door. It was down to him, Levi, Ethel, and two other soldiers. There still had to be at least a couple dozen rebels firing at them. The situation was definitely looking bleak. A beam of energy whizzed right passed Viktor's face, barely missing him.

"Ergh! Geez! Where is the armoured division?!" Viktor yelled, sticking his rifle back out through the window and firing blindly. One of the soldiers crouched under the window spoke up,

"We lost radio signal, sir!" The soldier yelled. Viktor groaned, continuing to trade fire with the rebels outside that were slowly pushing towards the door. Their suppressive fire was mostly keeping the Horde soldiers down. A moment later, a rebel got to the window and fired two shots point blank into Levi's shoulder.

"Gah!" Levi screamed as the lasers that struck his pauldron started slowly burning through it and getting to his skin.

"Levi!" Ethel screamed as she saw him get shot. She was right next to the window, on the opposite side where Levi was shot. Within a few feet of the target, Ethel used her stun baton to shock the rebels hand and drop his weapon. She then used the energy blast function on the baton to send the rebel flying off the porch of the castle. Ethel then ran over to Levi and dropped to her knees to check on him. She tore off the pauldron where he had been hit and tore off a piece of his bodysuit to bind the wound. No sooner did she do this, did another rebel get up to the window and fire a few shots into her back, causing her to collapse on top of Levi.

"Ethel!" Levi yelled. One of the Horde soldiers near the door fired a few shots at the rebel soldier that fired at Ethel, eliminating him. Soon after that happened, however, a beeping came from the door and the rebels that were near the window started running, while simultaneously firing to cover their retreat. Viktor was confused by the retreat, but soon recognized the beeping. He gasped and yelled to the soldiers,

"Grab Levi and Ethel! We've got a bomb!" The one closer to Levi and Ethel grabbed Ethel and slung her over his shoulder and started running towards the staircase. The other soldier was running but stopped mid run when the beeping finally stopped.

It was a time bomb. Its explosion splintered the doors, fractured the door frame, and incapacitated the soldier closest to it. It knocked Viktor, and the soldier carrying Ethel to the ground. Levi was blown away towards the staircase. Viktors ears were ringing. He was on his hands and knees coughing. His cough sounded distant, and his vision was blurry. He looked up and started shaking his head, his vision slowly coming back. When he finally came to, he and the rest of his team were surrounded by those purple armored rebel soldiers and guards. One of the more decorated soldiers approached Viktor. He was probably an officer, Viktor figured.

"You put up a strong resistance." The officer said, "but it was all for nought. You failed. The Rebellion has won this day."

_Meanwhile, back at the Mirror Maze…_

This is something the Twins would never thought they would ever experience. Brett was being strangled by… a copy of himself. Brett gasped for air and grabbed at the hand that was holding his throat, trying to pull it off. The Reflection's grip remained firm, however. Brittni was several feet behind the left of Brett. She took out her pistol and aimed it at the reflection. She squeezed the trigger, but a hand from her left pushed the pistol up, causing her to shoot the ceiling. Brittni quickly looked to her left and saw a reflection of herself with a menacing grin. It had one arm stretched out, grasping her pistol, while the other was waving at her. Brittni tried to pull the pistol away, until the reflection used the waving hand to punch her right in the left cheek. The power from that strike caused Brittni to fly into the mirror, opposite of her reflection. The mirror made a cracked silhouette of Brittni's body, and pieces slowly started chipping off the mirror. Brittni groaned in pain. Meanwhile, Brett was trying to fend off his reflection. He pulled out the saw from his bracer and started cutting the hand off that was holding him. To Brett's surprise, it wasn't flesh and blood that was being hacked up, but pieces of… the mirror. Finally, he completely cut off the hand, which released his throat. The hand fell to the ground and shattered everywhere. Brett dropped to the floor on his knees and started coughing and gasping for air. His reflection stood there and pulled its arm back, staring methodically at its now missing hand. It took a step outside of the mirror, then another, until it was completely out. Brett looked up and saw that some of the nearby mirrors' pieces began flying towards the wrist of the reflection, slowly regenerating its hand. The reflection studied the phenomenon, then started flexing its fingers back and forth, as if seeing how its hand worked. It then balled its hand into a fist and threw the punch straight at Brett. Brett managed to roll out of the way just in time for the hand to smash into the ground, causing its newly formed hand to shatter just like the last one.

Meanwhile, Brittni's reflection also started stepping out of the mirror, her reflection being a bit more erratic. Brittni was slumped on the floor, hurting from being thrown at the mirror. Her reflection started making jerky movements towards her, readying its fist to punch Brittni. As the reflection swung its fist, Brittni moved her head to the right and the reflection punched the mirror. Instead of the mirror shattering, however, the reflection's fist went right into it. Brittni switched glances between the fist and her reflections face. The reflection started retracting its fist when Brittni grabbed the reflection's closest leg, and slammed its knee on the ground, shattering the knee. This caused the reflection to fall over, half into the mirror, the other half shattering on the ground. Brittni picked herself up and stared at the half bodied reflection. It used its arms to turn itself around and position itself to look at Brittni. It then started crawling through. Once it did, Brittni stomped its head into the ground, completely fragementizing it. She stomped harder and harder until it was just particles of mirror. She took a few deep breaths, then looked over at Brett. She saw that his reflection would strike at him, lose parts of itself, and regenerate. Brett's reflection went in for a particular punch, aiming at Brett's face while he was laying on the ground. Before the fist landed, Brett held up his bracer saw. His reflection's fist was met with his bracers saw, slicing and shattering it, as the momentum propelled the fist forward. Brett rolled out of the way as the rest of the body fell forward, shattering into tiny little fragments of mirror. He then stood up and glanced over at Brittni who was continuing to stomp the fragments of mirror that tried to piece itself together as her reflection. She looked over at Brett,

"We need to destroy these mirrors. That's what's causing them to regenerate." Brett said, and pulled out his pistol. Brittni did the same and they started firing at all the mirrors near them. However, the particles from the mirrors that were flying off, flew towards the reflections, causing them to keep regenerating. Brett growled and fired at the reflections.

"Any other ideas?" Brett inquired as he fired his pistol at the reflections. Brittni thought for a moment and remembered back to when the reflection went through the mirror. An idea popped into her head.

"Brett, cut one of those mirrors off. I have an idea." Brittni said, grinning. Brett nodded and went to work on a nearby mirror he hadn't destroyed yet. He sawed the four corners then picked it off the ground.

"Now what?" Brett inquired. Brittni took the mirror from Brett's hands and said,

"Once they regenerate, lure them around the corner." Brett nodded in compliance. Brittni went around the corner, readying the mirror. The reflections started gathering undamaged particles of mirror and slowly built themselves back up. Once they were fully put back together, they started trudging towards Brett. Brett, while facing the two reflections started strafing to the right where Brittni was hiding around the corner. He then ran passed her, the reflections ready to follow in pursuit after him. The reflections turned the corner and walked right into Brittni's mirror, going into it. With the agility of a mouse being chased by a cat, Brittni positioned the mirror to face another mirror, inches apart. The reflections started running between the two mirrors, trapped between them. Brett ran back over and admired Brittni's ingenuity.

"Now, they're stuck in an endless reflection loop." Brittni said, grinning. Brett gave a chortle,

"Ha! I always knew you were the smart one!" They both high fived. Brett took the blowtorch from his other bracer and started welding the mirrors together to make sure the reflections were stuck in the loop, forever. Without any resistance this time, the two continued their navigation of the Mirror Maze, making it through, rather quickly. Mostly, because, at one point, Brett got tired of wading through the disorienting absurdity of the Maze. So instead of navigating, Brett just shot every mirror in front of him until they finally got through to the end. Once they exited the maze they found themselves in a wide open room with a single door in the middle. Near the ceiling there were a couple of speakers. They started walking towards the door until they heard that cringe inducing voice coming from said speakers. The Twins' groaned upon hearing it.

"So, you made it through the Maze…? I have to admit… that is quite impressive. Heh, heh, hehhh…" The mayor slabbered through the speakers. Brett growled, completely done with the Mayor.

"I've had enough of your talk!" Brett shouted as he fired his laser pistol at one of the speakers. The speaker exploded into a shower of plastic and wires. Some of the wires fell near Brett, onto his head. He shook the wires off his head and let them fall to the ground. Once they fell, he picked one up and studied it. He then turned to Brittni,

"Brittni, these wires… They're close range wires. They're too thin to be far range." Brett said, perceiving the revelation he had just received.

"Which means, that the Mayor's probably nearby!" Brittni said, realizing what Brett just understood. The mayor's cackling interrupted the Twins' realizations as it came through the other speaker.

"Ha! Very good, Horde scum. I guess the Horde isn't completely full of idiots!" The Mayor said, mockingly.

"I hate this guy so much." Brittni said, putting her hands to her ears.

"Why don't you just give yourself up, Mayor?" Brett demanded. The mayor continued cackling in response,

"You know what? You're right. Clearly I cannot best you two. I'm right through that door. Why don't you come say hello?" The Mayor said, sarcastically. Brett thought about the wire that had fallen on his head. He looked up at the speaker and noticed the wire. It wasn't going towards the door in the middle, but going to the left. Brett rubbed his chin for a moment, studying the wire. He then aimed his laser pistol near the blown out speaker and fired just behind where he had previously fired, and made a pattern of about three more shots going from the ceiling to the wall. He was then able to see where the wire was leading to.

"What are you doing, you upstart?!" The Mayor demanded. Brett grinned and started walking towards the wall that the pattern of shots lead to. He then turned his head towards Brittni, while aiming at the wall.

"Brittni, join me in exposing the Mayor?" Brett asked, amusingly.

"Love to." Brittni said, winking and joining him at his side, a few feet from the wall. She then pulled out her pistol and took aim at the same wall Brett was aiming at. The Mayor's voice got much more distressed,

"Wait, no! Don't!" The Mayor protested. The Twins ignored his pleas, however, and fired their pistols, simultaneously. The two beams blasted the wall open, causing plaster and drywall to fly everywhere. After the dust from the blasts dissipated, the plump ruler of the castle was finally revealed. He was situated behind a desk, his lip quivering. The Twins' aimed their weapons at the Mayor. He tried to stand up and run, but ended up tripping over the wheel of his rolling chair. Brett ran into the room, grabbed the Mayor's desk, and hurled it to the left, it smashing into the wall. With that obstacle out of the way, Brett stuck his knee into the Mayor's back, preventing him from picking himself up. The Mayor coughed out a clogged sounding gasp. Brett then grabbed the Mayor by his hair and put his pistol to his head.

"You have a lovely castle, your highness. I think we'll be taking it."

_Meanwhile back with Viktor's squad..._

Viktor groaned, trying to pick himself up. The rebel officer put his staff to Viktor's neck.

"Why don't you just stay down…" The officer suggested, "just make it easier on yourself and tell us where the rest of your infiltration team is." Viktor started rubbing his eyes, then blinked a little bit at the officer. The officer started visibly getting irritated, which was confirmed with, "my patience wears thin. Tell me where the rest of your team is!" Viktor held up his hand, palm forward at the officer and then said, aloud,

"Hang on, the memory's kinda fuzzy… Just gimme a minu-" Before Viktor could finish, the officer growled.

"You have thirty seconds to tell me what I want to know, or I execute your soldiers, one at a time." The officer said, indignantly. Viktor scratched behind his ear a little bit, secretly opening a comm on his earpiece.

"Okay, look if I'm being honest, I have no idea. I mean, have you seen the size of this place? I mean, I could absolutely use-" Viktor started, then emphasized the following, "SOME BACKUP, I MEAN, ANYBODY COME TO THE CASTLE AND HELP. But, honestly, it seems we totally failed. I know when I'm beaten." The rebel officer sneered. He looked over at one of his soldiers and nodded at her. The rebel soldier nodded in reply, drew her sword, and struck it through one of the Horde soldiers, eliminating him. Levi growled,

"You monsters, you can't!- Agh!" Levi started before he was hit in the back of the head by one of the rebels. Viktor gasped, and groaned, sadly,

"Alright! Alright! There's no need for that… The infiltration team is-" Before Viktor could finish, he finally received a transmission from none other than Octavia.

"Viktor, if you can hear me, get down, NOW." Octavia commanded. Obediently, Viktor laid flat.

"What are you doing-" The rebel officer demanded before being interrupted by a laser piercing through his skull. Lasers began flying through the windows, taking the rebels completely by surprise, hitting all of them. Viktor looked outside through a window and saw the White Wolves, Black Bulls, and the rest of the squad that the combat medic, Jackie, was taking care of. Viktor coughed out a few chuckles, completely perplexed, but grateful, at the situation. The Horde soldiers moved in, securing the area. Jackie ran over to Levi and Ethel, beginning a treatment for Ethel. A moment later, Octavia walked through the door, admiring the destruction.

"Fine job, almost holding the line, Viktor. What would you do without us?" Octavia said, chuckling. Viktor laughed, halfheartedly. Octavia then walked over to Viktor, holding out one of her tentacles. Viktor switched glances between the tentacle and her face,

"You can't give me a hand?" He asked, facetiously. Octavia rolled her eyes, then used her other tentacles to pull him up, to his dismay. Octavia smiled, but remained serious,

"In truth, you did hold the line the best you could." Octavia praised, while putting her hand on his shoulder. She then asked, "How's the rest of the infiltration team?" Right before Vikor could answer, they received a transmission from a welcomed voice.

"Viktor? You there?" It was Brittni!

"Brittni! You're alive! How's Brett? Where are you?" Viktor asked. He heard groaning in the background then asked, "what's that?"

"Shut up!" Brett said to the Mayor, then replied to Viktor, "we got the Mayor! We got him, Viktor!" Upon hearing that, Viktor smiled, mouth agape, and repeated the words aloud,

"They got the Mayor! Everyone, they got the Mayor!" An uproar of cheers sounded from the Horde soldiers as they raised their fists and rifles into the air. Octavia stood back with her arms folded, a deep, content smile on her face. Octavia then spoke up,

"That's fantastic. Well done, Twins." She then thought for a moment, then asked, "say, is Dragstor with you?" Silence came from the radio's end for a moment.

"No, ma'am." Brittni said, "we'll bring the mayor back, and search the rest of the castle- wait, hold on! You again!" The radio then went dead.

"Brittni? Hello, Brittni?!" Viktor yelled, trying to reach them. He then turned to Octavia, "we need to get them." Octavia nodded and commanded her troops,

"Alright, everyone split up into four man squads and search every crevice of this castle until you find our team. Move it!"

_Meanwhile, back with the Twins' and the Mayor…_

Just as Brittni and Brett heard the good news that the rebels had been defeated at the front gate of the castle, the teleporting, aura-emanating princess, with her electronic wind chime noise, arrived with none other than Dragstor, his hands tied behind his back.

"Dragstor!" Brittni exclaimed, "you're alive!" The princess had that sparkly, purple aura around her left fist. She glared at the Twins,

"And he'll stay alive if you hand over the Mayor!" the princess threatened. Underneath Brett's knee, the Mayor spoke up,

"Ah, Glimmer, my girl. How nice of you to arrive," the Mayor started, "and with a prisoner, no less? Excellent work!"

"Shut up!" Brett yelled at the Mayor as he held the pistol to his head. He then looked at Glimmer, sizing her up, "Glimmer, huh? How fitting of a name."

"Let him go!" Glimmer, started, "or I'll… I'll kill him!" Dragstor chuckled in response, until she motioned her aura-emanating hand closer to his neck. Brittni gasped at that action,

"Wait! Don't hurt him! We…" Brittni started. She switched glances between the Mayor and Dragstor, "what if we trade?" Brett and Dragstor looked at her, puzzled.

"Brittni, don't do it. He's much more important than I'd ever be. He's the key to this city's cooperation." Dragstor said, reassuringly, then added, "besides… she's a noble rebel princess. She'd never kill me, she doesn't have the skin for it." He then looked to Glimmer and said, "do you, Princess?" Glimmer growled and glared at Dragstor, the purple aura around her fist becoming more erratic. Brittni looked at Brett, with a supplicating gaze.

"Brett… we can't take that chance. We can't let a comrade die." Brett switched glances between Brittni and Dragstor, and started stammering.

"I… I…" Brett sighed, "okay, fine." Brett got up from atop the Mayor. The Mayor slowly pushed himself up, and looked back at Brittni, then Brett, with his devilish grin.

"Looks like the good guys won today." The Mayor said as he chuckled wickedly. Brittni and Brett glared at him. Glimmer let go of Dragstor, and he started walking towards the Twins. Time seemed to slow as the following segment played out:

The two were walking towards their designated locations. As their steps became parallel, Dragstor and the Mayor turned their heads towards each other. The Mayor grinned that same wicked grin he gave the Twins. Behind Dragstor's masked face was rage and a sense of duty. Without much thought, and his hands still tied behind his back, Dragstor bent down and swept the Mayor's legs, causing him to fall backwards onto his back.

"Oof! What're you do- Agh!" The Mayor protested in agony as Dragstor stood up and started stomping on his stomach. Before the Twins could react, Glimmer reacted first. She had teleported right behind Dragstor. What she did next caused Dragstor to lift his head up, and stop stomping. Dragstor started groaning, then fell to his knees, and finally forward. In his back was a fist sized crater, blood oozing from it. The Twins stared in horror at Dragstor, and then at Glimmer, who was equally shocked at what happened. Glimmer switched glances between the Twins, Dragstor, and her blood covered, gloved hand. Her lip quivered, and she shuddered at what she had just done. She looked at the Twins. Brett was raising his laser pistol at her, while Brittni ran towards Dragstor. Without having a chance to grab the Mayor, Glimmer decided her only course of action was to teleport away. She did so, right outside the back of the castle. Once she was outside, she fell onto her knees and started wiping the blood onto the grass.

"What did I do? What did I do?!" Glimmer yelled, trying to fight back tears. She teleported again outside the city walls. Once she got the majority of blood off of her gloved hand, she ran to a nearby hill overlooking Elberon. Black smoke enveloped the sky as she witnessed Elberon being torn apart by the Horde. She couldn't hold back the tears any longer and began to sob against a tree, and started hitting it with the bottom of her fists. After crying for a little while, she sighed deeply and sat down on the grass, hugging her knees. She then wiped the tears that were strewn around her face. She took another look at Elberon and suddenly her sadness began dissolving, and started being replaced with anger. She started feeling some kind of darkness begin coming over her that she had never felt before. She gritted her teeth and stood up.

"I did what I had to do. That's just one more Horde officer down. It was the right thing to do. He got what he deserved…" Glimmer began reasoning with herself. She started walking away but took one last look at the city she was assigned to protect. Glimmer left with one last promise,

"And soon… Everyone in the Horde will get what they deserve… Death."


	10. Chapter 10: Victory, Or Defeat?

Chapter 10: Victory, Or Defeat?

"Dragstor!" Brittni screamed as she ran over to treat him. Brett fired his pistol at Glimmer just too late, barely missing her. He growled and holstered his pistol, then ran over to help Brittni. Brittni pulled out gauze from her pack and shoved it onto the gaping wound on Dragstor's back, applying as much pressure as possible on it.

"Brett, get those cuffs off! His arms are pushing blood out!" Brittni commanded. Brett quickly reacted, holding up Dragstor's wrists, and cutting the cuffs chain with his saw. The blood oozed out slower, but he was still losing blood rather quickly. Although Brett was usually calm in stressful situations, his understanding of medicine was much less than Brittni's, despite his observational skills. He shuddered at everything that had just transpired. Brittni, on the other hand was used to dealing with medical emergencies, and as such, was able to react accordingly while maintaining her composure.

"Brett, hold this gauze down!" Brittni again commanded. Brett did so, pressing down as hard as he could. Brittni, meanwhile grabbed antibiotic fluid and a hemostatic shot. She moved Brett's hand out of the way and wiped the fluid onto the wound. As soon as she started applying the fluid, Dragstor groaned louder. Relieved at hearing anything, even a painful groan, Brett said,

"Well, that's a good sound…" He chuckled, nervously. Brittni then took the shot, and plunged it into the wound, in order to stop the blood. Dragstor screamed even louder in pain. Once the shot was taken out, Brittni applied a dressing, then covered it with gauze, then finally bound it with more cloth. Brittni sighed deeply.

"Is he gonna be okay? Is he going to make it?" Brett asked, desperately. He was standing hunched over, not really knowing what to do. Brittni, kneeling next to Dragstor, kept her hand on the gauze, and turned her head towards Brett.

"He does have a chance… But… He might not be able to walk again." Brittni said, dismally. Brett gasped, then sighed,

"Well… At least he'll live." Brett said, optimistically.

"He's going to need surgery, and I don't have the equipment here. We're going to have to find a medical center in this city." Brittni said, standing up. Brett was about to respond until they heard voices coming from outside the hole they had made to get into the Mayor's office. They both looked over and sure enough, they saw Octavia and a group of Horde soldiers stepping over the hole.

"Octavia! I have never been so happy to see you!" Brett exclaimed.

"You've never been happy to see me, kid…" Octavia said, facetiously. She looked over and saw Dragstor and the Mayor groaning and struggling to get up. She ran over to Dragstor and knelt down next to him, "Dragstor!" She looked back at Brittni, "Is he okay?" Brittni looked unsure, her eyes darting away from Octavia,

"He's stable for now and I think I've stopped the blood… But we're going to need to get him to a medical center with the right tools." Octavia nodded, switching glances from Brittni to Dragstor.

"We'll be expecting a Horde occupational force, relatively soon. They'll be bringing in more medical professionals; doctors, combat medics, the whole ensemble. They can take over with the right tools." That made Brittni and Brett feel a little better. Octavia smiled, while keeping her hand on Dragstor's shoulder. She then looked over at the Mayor and glared. He was slowly picking himself up, but was badly beaten by Dragstor.

"Troopers, restrain the Mayor, and get him out of here." Per her command, a group of soldiers kicked the Mayor to the ground, cuffed, him, then pulled him up. The Mayor growled upon being lifted up by his wrists. The Mayor said in protest,

"You cretins will regret the day that you ever stepped foot in Elberon. You'll see! You'll- augh!" One of the soldiers pushed him into a wall and said,

"Oops, sorry 'your highness,' didn't mean to do that." Another chimed in and said,

"C'mon, let's move 'em out." And with that said, the soldiers took the Mayor outside, and escorted him out of the castle. In the meantime, Octavia stood up and interviewed the Twins.

"I know this isn't the time for sentiment, but I'm very proud of both of you. Thank you for taking care of Dragstor, and capturing the Mayor. I am very impressed with the both of you." Octavia put a tentacle on one shoulder of Brett and Brittni, "what happened to Dragstor, exactly?" The Twins looked at each other and then gave a brief synopsis of Glimmer attacking Dragstor. Octavia shuddered for a moment, then put a tentacle under her chin, rubbing it. She started pacing around, then sighed.

"Well, regardless, we need to get Dragstor out of here." The Twins nodded. Octavia, using her prehensile tentacles, wrapped them around Dragstor and strapped him to her back, carrying him out towards the entrance of the castle. On their way back Brett spoke up,

"We need to be careful. This castle has been a complete nuthouse." Brett said, cautiously.

"What do you mean?" Octavia asked, keeping her eyes forward.

"Well, we got attacked by a teleporting princess, and our reflections came out of mirrors and attacked us." Brett replied. Octavia turned her head, keeping pace,

"You got attacked by what?" Octavia inquired, confused. The Twins explained what had happened in the mirror maze. Octavia looked forward, her face filled with disorientation.

"These rebels have some serious magic on their side… we're going to have a spec ops team tear this castle apart and strip it for any tech that we can get our hands on. But never mind that, let's focus on getting Dragstor to the medical tent. The Twins nodded. Once they got near the entrance, Viktor saw them and ran at them, wrapping Brittni and Brett in a hug.

"You two are alive! Ha!" Brittni smiled and closed her eyes, enjoying the hug, while Brett looked at Viktor with a cocked eyebrow and gritted teeth. Viktor took quick notice and pulled away from the Twins. He started scratching the back of his neck and chuckled, nervously, "I-.. uh.. I mean, good work." Viktor then saw Octavia lagging behind them, carrying Dragstor. Viktor's mouth dropped as if a fishing hook had pulled it down.

"C-Captain!" Viktor whimpered as he ran over to Octavia.

"Take it easy, Lieutenant, we need to get him to a medical center, stat." Octavia said, while grunting from holding him up.

"But! But, what happened to him?!" Viktor asked, spasmodically. Octavia exhaled, impatiently, and eyed Viktor with the same impatience.

"Er.. Right, sorry. Um.. Yeah, the occupational force is just now arriving, we can get a skiff to take him to the occupational forces' medical tent, here in Elberon." Viktor suggested, "I'll go get a medical team." He then offered.

"Great," Octavia grunted as she followed Viktor. The Twins followed in close proximity. As they all went outside the castle and headed towards the occupational force's direction, they looked around. Although it was nearly nighttime, they could see the destruction that encompassed all of Elberon. Laser holes in walls, fires on roofs, corpses littering the streets. Brittni shuddered at all of the destruction that surrounded them. She tried to stifle her neuroticism, but it was quite obvious how traumatized she felt. Brett managed to maintain a stoic face, but even he was trying to get over the mental fatigue from everything they had just gone through.

After traversing through the carnage of Elberon, they met up with the occupational force. A team of paramedics took hold of Dragstor, put him on a stretcher and carried him to the medical tent that was set up. The occupational force had salvaged equipment from the medical center, knowing that they would have to deal with many wounded soldiers. Instinctively, Brittni wanted to follow them on the skiff. As she made her way to the skiff, Octavia put her hand on Brittni's shoulder. Brittni turned her head back with a desperate look.

"Captain, I need to go with them! I can help! I-" Brittni started to say but was quickly interrupted by Octavia calmly shushing her.

"Brittni…" Octavia began, "this is your first battle, and honestly, almost nothing went according to plan. Despite all that, you and your brother managed to do the impossible. You two have done enough for today. You two need to head back to the Fright Zone."

"But, Captain! I.." tears began welling up, a couple lines being drawn down her eyes. Octavia used one of her tentacles to wipe Brittni's tears.

"You've done much more than what was asked of you. You've dealt with things today that I didn't even know existed." Octavia said, her voice getting softer, "Dragstor is in good hands." Brittni sniffled a bit and nodded, glumly. Octavia took her hand off Brittni's shoulder, then looked to Brett, "alright, there's a group of skiffs that are taking the remaining attack force back to the Fright Zone. Get on one and have some R&R back home. Hordak forbid, you deserve it." Brett gave a salute to Octavia and put his arm around Brittni. They then both headed to the skiffs that were going to be in transit to the Fright Zone. They met up with Viktor and a few of their infiltration team and boarded the skiff.

The way back home was understandably quiet. Some of the more veteran soldiers were talking quietly amongst themselves, but the Twins and Viktor remained silent. Brittni couldn't stop thinking of the myriad of experiences they just had. Between the betrayal of Vultak, the cryptic mirrors, and the deaths of their comrades, it was difficult to put it out of her mind. The two things that were at the forefront of her thoughts, however, was the dialogue she had between the rebel that was trapped under the wardrobe and the purple, teleporting, princess. Those two were hard pressed in believing that what the Horde was doing was wrong, and what they were doing was right.

"_No…" _Brittni reasoned with herself in her mind, _"they're just… victims of war. Nobody wants this war to be happening, but the rebels… They… sounded so sincere." _Before she allowed that thought to turn towards sympathy she amended her thoughts, _"No. I'm sure that Horde villages have been sacked by the Rebels, just the same. It's unfortunate, but we're in the right… We're in the right…"_ Brittni continued to have her thousand yard stare. Brett, in the meanwhile was trying not to think of the moral implications of everything that they had just gone through and tried focusing on feeling a greater sense of pride. It's not that he was a killer, but he was proud that he believed he was making a difference. Viktor, leaning back in his chair and arms folded finally broke the silence.

"Not to interrupt your thoughts, but I gotta tell ya, you two were pretty amazing. That castle was some kinda wacky shack… That Mirror Maze sounded insane." Viktor said. He then leaned forward and put his hands on his knees, "but, you won't believe what happened to my squad." Viktor went on to explain the story, the length of it taking around the rest of the trip to tell. The Twins' despite everything that happened to them, were still rather amazed by what Viktor had told them. Once they reached the Fright Zone, the troops started departing the skiff and made their way to processing to get checked for any contaminants or unseen wounds they might have experienced. After passing through the processing, it was nighttime. The Twins headed for Keirnan's quarters. The two raced to the door. Brett grabbed the knob first, but Brittni shoved him out of the way.

"Oof! Hey, no fair!" Brett protested. Brittni ignored him and grabbed the knob,

"I get to see Keirnan, first!" Brittni declared. Brett rolled his eyes while picking himself up. Brittni turned the knob, took a deep breath and opened the door. Inside was Keirnan, reading, while relaxing on his chair. Once the door opened, Keirnan averted his gaze to the door. Upon seeing Brittni his eyes became wider than the walls of the Fright Zone. Keirnan immediately arose from his chair, dropping the book from his hand.

"...Brittni?" Keirnan asked, in disbelief. Brittni smiled, and let her tears begin strewing down her face.

"Keirnan!" She exclaimed as she ran towards him and jumped to hug him, not remembering that she was in rather heavy armor.

"Oh! Wait, oh!" Keirnan began protesting, as he fell backwards with Brittni on top him. Brittni wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tight. Brett followed in close proximity and went on the other side of Kiernan, hugging him while he lay on the ground. Although Keirnan was gasping for air, he couldn't have felt more happy.

"...Welcome home, Twins."

_Meanwhile, Glimmer made her way back to Bright Moon…_

Glimmer was bruised and bloodied from her undertaking at Elberon. She staggered to the gates of Bright Moon and was greeted by the perturbed faces of the front gate guards.

"Princess Glimmer!" One of the purple robed, staff wielding guards shouted as she finally gave into her wounds and collapsed in front of the guards.

"El...Elberon…" Glimmer managed to wheeze out before darkness overtook her eyes. She awoke several hours later in her room, the light of the moonstone, causing her eyes to open. She blinked a few times, and began rubbing her eyes. She groaned from the pain that she had experienced, though she felt more rejuvenated from the moonstone. She swung her legs from the ottoman that she was laying on, onto the floor. She put her head in her hands, continuing to rub her head. When she finally looked up she saw her one of the purple robed guards standing before her.

"Princess Glimmer? Are you feeling better?" The guard asked, concerned.

"Ugh…" Glimmer moaned, "A little bit… Thanks." The guard nodded.

"I'm glad to hear it. The Queen will be happy. As soon as you arrived, she had you rushed for medical attention. There wasn't anything very serious, except that laser burn on your leg. That should fully recover, soon enough." The guard said. Glimmer exhaled, sharply, then looked up at the guard.

"Thank you…" Glimmer said, despondently. The guard smiled for a moment, then switched back to a neutral look.

"Of course. The Queen requests your audience." The guard said. Upon hearing that, Glimmer groaned heavily and fell back on the ottoman. After pouting for a few moments, Glimmer mustered the strength to get up and head towards the throne room. Once she arrived at the doors to the throne room, two guards opened the two doors and bade Glimmer to go inside. Glimmer marched into the room as though she was headed to the gallows. Once Glimmer approached the throne, she knelt before the queen, as courteously as she could.

"Your majesty…" Glimmer said with faux humility. The Queen was a rather tall, godlike being. She had a shining aura that surrounded her lightly purple, peach skin. She had long, dual-toned hair of both pink and purple. She wore a pink leotard with purple leggings and dark purple boots. To complete her godlike appearance, she donned a pair of translucent wings. Her face looked slightly annoyed, but calm.

"I was told you disobeyed orders, Commander Glimmer. That… Horde informant warned you of the attack on Elberon, and you did not retreat." The Queen said, sternly.

"Vultak gave us valuable information. We had a chance to defend Elberon. I didn't want another city falling into the hands of the Horde! We evacuated all the civilians that we could before the attack took place. We even managed to thin a large amount of Horde soldiers. It was a huge massacre for them." Glimmer protested.

"At what cost, Commander Glimmer? The Mayor has been captured, we lost many soldiers, and Elberon was taken, anyway!" The Queen snapped. That statement really hurt Glimmer. Glimmer let a tear fall from one of her eyes before she raised her voice,

"At least I'm doing something to fight the Horde!" Glimmer shouted. The guards in the back gasped, and the Queen's annoyed face turned more somber, "the Horde keeps creeping closer and closer to Bright Moon. Soon enough we won't have any territory left between us and the Fright Zone!" The Queen's somber face curved into a glare.

"I've had enough of your back-talk, Commander Glimmer!" The Queen said, raising her voice. Glimmer's voice got lower, but still was argumentative,

"Why did you make me a commander if you won't let me fight?!" Glimmer whined.

"That's it… You're… grounded!" The Queen. Glimmer and the guards gasped,

"Mom!" Glimmer protested.

"You are embarrassing me in front of my court!" The Queen snapped. This statement irritated Glimmer.

"Oh, ho! I'm embarrassing _you_? You're the one that's too afraid to fight the Horde!" Glimmer snapped. The entire room went silent after that declaration. Even Glimmer sort of regretted saying it, her face matching the regret. The Queen's face was shocked for a moment, then changed to irate.

"Go to your room!" The Queen shouted. Glimmer sniffled from the tears that had started strewing down her face.

"I'm going!" Glimmer snapped back. With that, Glimmer trudged back to her room, with a scowl on her face. Once she got to her room, she sat down on her bed and started sobbing into her hands. For a good few minutes she let the tears fall from her face. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she inhaled and exhaled some deep breaths. When she calmed down, she reached under her bed and found her journal. She began writing in it:

"_**The siege on Elberon was a disaster. Although we were able to take out the majority of the Horde force that attacked, it did cost us many of our soldiers. But, again, at least we fought back instead of running away. That seems to be all we do, now. Speaking of fighting, I-" **_Glimmer stopped writing for a moment, then took a deep breath before finishing what she was going to write. _**"I killed a man. I didn't mean to, it was just some kind of knee jerk reaction. It was him or me…" **_Glimmer stopped writing again and thought deeply about her experience at Elberon. She then continued writing, _**"The Horde is evil. They're the ones that are attacking us. They're the ones burning our villages, enslaving our people, and slaughtering those who resist. I don't want to kill them, but I will do whatever it takes to destroy the Horde and free Etheria. To do that, I'm going to have to become stronger. But how can I do that?" **_Glimmer pondered the possibilities. Maybe she was going to have to start utilizing the weapons she had been hoarding. She then started thinking of her mother. Perhaps she was a little too harsh on her, even if she did speak the truth. She figured a good way to vent her anger is to write about it. _**" "Dear Mom, I know you'll never read this, but I have to say it somewhere. I feel like you... don't respect me…" **_As she was writing, she was interrupted by an arrow whizzing by her head. She shrieked and bent backwards. The arrow stuck against the wall, and a note unfolded from the arrow. It read:

"_**Look outside!"**_ and had a picture of a boys head, winking…

_Meanwhile, back at Keirnan's quarters..._

Keirnan had made the Twins some of the leftover steak he had made for dinner. Informally, they all sat on the couch and Keirnan's lounge chair where the Twins recited everything that they had experienced at Elberon. Keirnan remained quiet, but as they told the story, Keirnan's expression became more and more concerned. At one point when they got to the Mirror Maze, Keirnan's face was completely shocked.

"So it's true what they say about the Rebellion's magic…" Keirnan muttered. The Twins then continued elaborating until they got to the part about Dragstor. Brittni looked down, while Brett explained what happened. After finishing, Keirnan let out a long sigh. It was quiet for a few moments. Brett was on the edge of his seat while Brittni slumped back with her head down. Finally, Keirnan broke the silence.

"I can't believe that you two went through all of that…" Keirnan muttered, He switched glances between the two and said, "I cannot tell you how proud I am of the both of you, though. Despite having the disadvantage of the Rebellion knowing about the attack, you two pressed through and accomplished your mission." Brett smiled.

"Thanks, Keirnan. We definitely appreciate it." Brett said while stretching and yawning, "well, I am beyond exhausted. Luckily we've got the day off tomorrow to recuperate from the mission. We can talk more in the morning, Keirnan. G'night!" Brett stood up and walked over to his room, pulling pieces of his armor off as he went.

"Hey! Don't just leave-" Keirnan started, then remembered everything they hadjust gone through, "ah, never mind, I'll get it." Brett gave him a two finger salute-nod, and walked into his room. Keirnan smiled, then turned back to Brittni. She was hunched over with her hands clenched together, her head resting on said hands. Keirnan walked over, sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"I have a dumb question with an obvious answer… but are you okay?" Keirnan asked, encouragingly. Brittni immediately raised her head, put her hands down, then looked at Keirnan. Keirnan was taken aback by her jerky movements.

"Keirnan, why are the Horde and Rebellion fighting?" Brittni inquired, sternly. Keirnan blinked his eyes rapidly a few times, and opened his mouth slightly without saying a word. He closed his mouth again, as if he was trying to find the answer to her question. Finally, he cleared his throat and said,

"Er… Well…" Keirnan started before pausing for a few seconds. Brittni stared intently at Keirnan, earnestly waiting for an answer, "well, the Horde has ruled Etheria since I could remember, and the Rebellion was started by some radicals that didn't want to live under the Horde's rule, anymore." Keirnan said, almost unsure of what he was saying. Brittni easily caught on.

"You don't really know why, do you?" Brittni said, perceiving his thoughts. Keirnan shrugged his shoulders and bobbed his head to the left and right.

"No, I mean… this has been a rather long war. I… Huh, I guess I don't remember exactly why it was started." Keirnan admitted.

"Then how do we know if what we're doing is the right thing? Who's to say that the Rebellion isn't right?" Brittni challenged. Keirnan quickly hushed her.

"Easy, be careful about what you say." Keirnan whispered, looking around, rather paranoid. He then continued, "look, all I can say about that is that both sides have suffered extensively from the war. As for right and wrong, I've witnessed atrocities committed by both sides. I've seen the Horde conquer villages, I've seen the Rebellion raid Horde outposts. I've seen all kinds of death and destruction instigated by both parties." Keirnan looked into Brittni's eyes, "you just endured a mission that most people would never go through, let alone actually accomplish the mission. I know that there's a million thoughts racing through your head. I think you just need to sleep the rest of this off. We can talk more tomorrow. Is that okay?" Brittni said nothing for a few moments, diverting her eyes to various points in the room before she finally sighed.

"Okay, yeah. Yeah, you're right. I just need to sleep. Thanks, Keirnan." Brittni hugged Keirnan. When she let go, she stood up and started peeling off pieces of armor while she was headed towards her room, just like Brett. Keirnan opened his mouth to protest but stopped himself.

"Good night, Keirnan." Brittni said, distantly. She then walked into her room.

"Good night…"

**Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wanted this to be a "breather" chapter, seeing as how the last five have been action-packed and at many moments, intense. Anyway, thank you so much for reading :)**


	11. Chapter 11: Find Me

Chapter 11: Find Me

There was darkness all around. The only sounds that could be heard were the sharp breaths that were being drawn from a young woman running. Where was she? Why was she running? She ceased her stride then took a good look around her. It seemed to be a long, cryptic hallway. To the left and right of her were stony walls covered in vines, gripping the blocks of stone. What was this hallway? How did she get here? In the middle of these thoughts, the young woman started hearing voices.

"Save a life…?" The voice came out raspy. It then became more clear and indignant, "save a life?! Tell that to my family! My friends! Everyone that the Horde has taken from me!" The voice was coming from behind the young woman. She looked back and saw the mouthpiece coming from the darkness. It was a rebel soldier of some sort, wearing mangled up purple armor, pants ripped below the knees, and a helmet that had a few holes from laser fire. The man was crawling, his face cloaked in the darkness. The young woman shuddered. The face of the rebel soldier looked up. The rebel soldier's face had skin that was flaking off. The neck was bloody from a knife wound.

"And tell that to my village that was burned down just for existing!" The apparition yelled as it crumbled into dust. The young woman shrieked in response, and continued running away. As she looked back, the darkness seemed to be following her. She continued to hearing various voices, creeping closer to her ears, almost simultaneously,

"_Save Etheria?!" "Murderer!" "Look at what the Horde is doing!" "You think the Rebellion is so noble?!" "My brother was killed so I could get medicine!" "The Horde is been poisoning our land, burning our cities, destroying everything in their path. And you're a part of it! How's that for orderly?"_ The voices kept shouting from the darkness. The young woman tried covering her ears. No sooner did she do that, did she feel a cold embrace. As if the darkness tried to remove her hands from her ears,

"You cannot hide from the truth!" The darkness shouted with a demonic sounding voice.

"We're doing what's right!" The young woman shouted, jerking her shoulders until she released herself from the darkness' grasp. As she continued running, she saw a light at the end of the hallway. She sprinted as hard as she could and dove towards the light. Just as she dove towards the light, she felt the blinding glare in her eyes. She closed her eyes hard then screamed.

"Brittni! Wake up! Brittni!" Her twin implored as he began shaking her. Brittni shrieked and swung her fist at him. When her fist made contact with Brett's head, he fell to the right, off of the bed.

"Ow, geez! See if I ever wake you up from a nightmare!" Brett affirmed, rubbing the part of his head where Brittni hit him. Brittni sat up in her bed and put her hands to her mouth and stifled a gasp,

"Oh, my gosh! Brett, I'm so sorry! Here, let me help!" Brittni exasperated. She reached under her pillow, pulled out a small medical kit, hopped off her bed, and knelt down next to Brett, placing a synthetic icy gel pack on his bruised head.

"Ugh, right, it's fine." Brett muttered. He took the gel pack from Brittni's hand and held it on his head, then gave Brittni a puzzled look, "you keep a medkit under your pillow?" He inquired, befuddled.

"You don't?" Brittni accused, equally befuddled. Brett narrowed his eyes at her for a moment, then shook his head.

"...Anyway, you were having some kind of nightmare. Are you okay?" Brett asked. Brittni sat on the floor, her back against the bed frame. Brett moved next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"I mean, I'm still pretty shaken up from the battle…" Brittni said, tepidly. Brett cocked his eyebrow at Brittni,

"That's not all that's wrong, is it?" Brett asked, seemingly reading her thoughts. Brittni let out an elongated sigh,

"I asked Keirnan this same question…" Brittni started, then looked Brett straight in the eye, "Brett, why are the Horde and Rebellion fighting?" Brett looked away and sighed,

"Brittni…" Brett started, restlessly, "I get what's going on. I know that you're still all mixed up from that one rebel soldier-"

"It's not just the soldier, Brett." Brittni interrupted, "that princess, the fact that what we attacked was a civilian town… I mean… It just seemed so... wrong." Brittni said, distantly. For a few moments there was silence. After a little while, Brett finally spoke up.

"I don't think war is ever supposed to be right. It's ugly, it's scary, and it's heartbreaking… Sadly, it is necessary, though. That might have been a civilian town, but those were real insurgents that had one single goal: to kill us. You think Vultak's betrayal was so noble? Our plan was shock and awe. It was supposed to be more intimidating to keep our soldiers, as well as their soldiers alive. Vultak cost us most of our forces and equipment as we attacked, and caused the deaths of a lot of rebel soldiers. Don't even get me started on the mayor and his freaky castle. That magic that they're using is out of control." Brett stopped for a moment to let Brittni digest everything he just said, then he added, "Brittni, you ask me why we're fighting? I can't give you a definitive answer. All I know is that the magic that they possess is out of control. You saw what the mayor's magic can do. The Rebellion has possession of all the magic… Imagine what they can do with all of that power. You've also seen what Shadow Weaver can do…" Brittni thought about everything that Brett just said, and started nodding.

"I am glad that Shadow Weaver is on our side… She's scary with her magic…" Brittni muttered. Brett nodded.

"I'm just glad she's on our side…" Brett replied. Brittni exhaled a large breath.

"Anyway, you do make some good points. Yeah, I think I just need to sleep it off, I guess." Brittni said, reassuringly. Brett smiled and patted her back. Brittni smiled back, then paused for a moment and changed her mind, "actually, I think I'm gonna get a glass of water."

"Good call, but I am beyond exhausted, so I'm definitely going back to sleep." Brett said as he stood up and slumped back into bed. Brittni stood up and opened the door. As she went to go out, Brett added something,

"Don't drink too much." Brett warned with a chuckle and a yawn. Brittni chuckled in reply and walked out the door.

Brittni walked into the kitchen and accordingly filled a cup of water and chugged it down. Brittni didn't like drinking water, and only did it as a necessity. At this moment, however, she actually enjoyed the cool liquid flowing down her throat.

"I'm enjoying water, now? I must really be messed up." Brittni said, almost serious. She filled up the cup again and walked over to the living room and sat down on Keirnan's chair. Once down, she felt a lump from under the chair. She cocked her eyebrow and reached under the chair. Her hand caught hold of a book. She pulled it up and got a good view. As she opened it, she gasped. It was a photo album! She went through it, admiring all the photos that Keirnan had taken. She was aware that photography was reserved strictly for medical, technological, and any other Horde business ventures. This excited her. She gushed over all the pictures of her and Brett, reminiscing all the good, more innocent times they had with each other. Tears began welling up in her eyes and she smiled from recollecting the memories of her and her twin. Before she started turning a particular page, she saw a slight lambency coming from the next page. She narrowed her eyes at the page with light radiating from behind it. Cautiously, she slowly turned the page, to get a better look at the light. As the page turned, the light began dissipating until she could see a very faint glow. She looked closely to where the glow was. It was on a picture of the Twins when they were probably only a few months old. The Twins were in a mobile isolette in the foreground. In the background, she could see the source of the light. The light had completely dissipated as her eyes made contact with the source. It was some kind of crystal ball cluttered alongside other items that were most likely confiscated from the Rebellion. As she focused on the crystal ball, her eyes and head moved closer, as if drawn to it. As she moved closer, she suddenly heard a voice,

"Brittni…" the voice said, distantly, yet so clear. Brittni tossed the book from her hands, completely frightened. She began hyperventilating, pushed back against the chair, too afraid to move from it. After a few moments, her breathing went back to a normal pace. She went over to the photo album and picked it up, turning to the page with the crystal ball. She didn't have the same experience. She sighed in relief. That relief was cut short, however, when she heard the voice yet again,

"Brittni!" The voice came out more clearly than before. Brittni shrieked upon hearing the voice. The voice continued, "do not be afraid, Brittni! It is your time to find me."

"Find you?!" Brittni exasperated, "who _are_ you?!"

"You must find me, Brittni… In the Fright Zone monumental room… find me..." the voice explained, becoming more distant.

"I don't understand! Who are you?!" Brittni demanded.

"Please… find me…" The voice said, slowly dispelling until it was gone. Brittni shuddered upon this experience. She quickly shoved the photo album back underneath the chair and ran back into her room. Brett was still sound asleep. Somehow, nobody heard the exchange she had with the incorporeal being. She climbed into bed and pulled the covers over, breathing rapidly. Although her heart was racing, she started feeling the pressure of the day settle on her. Her eyes closed and she fell fast asleep.

The following morning, Brittni ended up sleeping in rather late. It was around 10:00 AM when she finally opened her eyes. She sat up in her bed and groaned while rubbing her eyes. She looked over at Brett's bed, astonished. Somehow, he was up before her.

"Yep, there's definitely something wrong with me if that guy is up before me." Brittni said to herself, satirically. She stretched, picked herself out of bed and walked to the bathroom to perform her morning routine. As she was brushing her teeth, the thought of her experience last night continued to permeate her mind. She started reasoning with her thoughts,

_"That voice said to find her in the monumental room… Where even is that?" _Brittni thought to herself. She started rinsing her mouth and spat it out. As she wiped her face, she had another thought, _"Shadow Weaver would most likely know… but she would be suspicious. I gotta think of something, though-" _Brittni's thoughts were interrupted by a message from the intercom beeping. She hurried over to the intercom and pressed the button to answer.

"This is Brittni." Brittni; (obviously,) said.

"Brittni, this is Octavia." Octavia; (also obviously,) said.

"Oh! Octavia! Ah, hello, there." Brittni said, awkwardly.

"I hope you're not too surprised to hear from me, kid. I just wanted to congratulate you and your brother, again. I wanted to let you know that you and your brother have been personally invited to meet with Hordak in his sanctum to give your battle report." Brittni gasped, lightly. Almost as an afterthought, Octavia added, "I'll be there as well." she said, reassuringly.

"Oh, of course. Right. Thank you." Brittni responded, clumsily. She coughed a couple times then asked, "So, what time?"

"Immediately. Brett's already on his way there." Octavia replied, "oh, and bring your armor."

Brittni had fastened her armor on and began her trek to Hordak's sanctum. As she made her way there, she passed by many Horde soldiers and scientists. As she walked by, many of them saluted her as if she were a high ranking officer. She heard whispers, from them saying,

"_Hey! That's one of the Noticer Twins!"_

"_It's Observer Twin, moron!"_

"_Hey, show some respect! She and her brother pretty much single-handedly captured the Mayor of Elberon!" _

She didn't know exactly how to respond except salute back. The attention had almost made her feel uncomfortable, as she was not used to it. Also, even though they were victorious, the moral implications of fighting the Rebellion at Elberon were getting to her. The fact that everyone was cheering for her made her feel like she was being congratulated for doing something that she felt may or may not have been… wrong. At any rate, she made it to Hordak's sanctum and pressed the button to the intercom.

"Uh… Lord Hordak? It's me, Brit-" Before she could finish, the slider doors opened expeditiously with a whoosh. The whoosh made her shudder for a moment, then she heard a low voice from the intercom,

"Ah, Brittni. Come in." Brittni recognized that as Hordak's voice. Obediently, she stepped inside where she found Brett, Octavia, and Viktor, standing at attention facing Hordak's throne, a few feet away from the bottom step of his staircase. They all noticed her, but did not move from their position. Most likely they were afraid to move. Brittni joined the group, knelt before Hordak and bowed her head.

"Hail, Lord Hordak." Brittni said, with forced humility. Hordak was perched upon his throne, petting his little imp. The imp was a tiny, grey demon that looked something like a toddler with bright yellow eyes and wings. Brittni always felt eerie around that little flying, grey demon.

"Rise, Brittni." Hordak instructed as he allowed the little imp to fly off. Brittni arose and Hordak looked to Octavia, "I am most impressed with your success at Elberon, Force Captain Octavia, Lieutenant Viktor, and Observer Twins. Congratulations." Octavia bowed herself.

"Thank you my Lord, this was definitely a team effort. I could not have done it without Lieutenant Viktor and the Twins." Octavia said, graciously to the soldiers beside her. Although her comrades wanted to smile, they were still a little afraid to do so.

"Ah, yes…" Hordak began, "I was wise to send them on this mission. Clearly, they were the edge we needed…" Hordak's voice began to sound more indignant, "to counter the betrayal from that treacherous vulture." Hordak sneered, referring to Vultak, the red glow in his eyes glowing brighter. Octavia's throat dried up from hearing about Vultak,

"M..My Lord, I assure you that we will have everyone in the Fright Zone inspected to find any trace of treachery." Octavia stammered.

"See that you do…" Hordak said, coldly, "because of this victory, I will overlook the lax in security. This _will _NOT happen again. Is that clear, Force Captain Octavia?" Octavia began nodding her head erratically, and saluted Hordak.

"Of c-course, L-Lord Hordak! It will not happen again." Octavia sputtered out. Hordak moved his head to the right and let out a low, breathy growl. He then looked back at the group.

"Now that that has been dealt with, let us focus on other pursuits. Octavia, you are down two force captains." Hordak then focused his eyes on Viktor, "Lieutenant Viktor, Octavia has told me that you took charge of your team after Vultak's betrayal and managed to lead them successfully into the castle, despite the Mayor's little artifices." Viktor was almost afraid to smile, but felt pride at Hordak's praise. "You have been one of my elite for quite some time. I hereby name you Force Captain. Viktor quietly stifled a gasp, then bowed his head,

"Thank you, Lord Hordak." He said, proudly. Hordak nodded, slowly.

"Dismissed, Force Captain." Hordak said. Viktor saluted Hordak and started walking away. As he was leaving, Hordak looked over at Viktor and added, "Force Captain Viktor, find Shadow Weaver and send her in." Viktor again saluted and continued on his way out. Hordak then refocused on the Twins.

"I am very impressed with both of your feats. Your first mission, despite the setbacks was a success. Much of that success was based on your contribution. You two are made for the Horde military. This has been proven with the conquest of Elberon." The Twins fought back a smile, but let a slight smirk spread throughout their face.

"Thank you, Lord Hordak." The Twins said, simultaneously. Hordak's face continued to remain neutral,

"With that said…" Hordak started, then looked at Brett. "Brett, upon a recommendation from Octavia and Viktor, I was given the confidence that you learn quick in the ways of infiltration and demolition. Your skills with technology, as well as your observation skills make you the perfect candidate for a special position: Infiltration Saboteur. You will receive more details in the war room." Brett was dumbfounded. After one mission he had already been promoted. Excitedly he put his fist to his chest and bowed himself,

"Thank you, Lord Hordak, I will not fail you." Brett said, enthusiastically. Hordak nodded,

"Of course you won't." Hordak said, candidly. He then looked to Octavia, "Force Captain Octavia, escort our new Infiltration Saboteur to the war room." Octavia bowed herself, then saluted Hordak. She motioned for Brett to follow her. Brett switched glances between Brittni, Octavia, and Hordak, not wanting to leave Brittni. Brittni looked over at Brett with an anxious countenance. Brett exchanged the same anxiousness and didn't want to leave, but felt the gazing tug from Octavia.

"Now, Saboteur." Hordak said, more impatiently. Brett mouthed the words, 'I'm sorry,' to Brittni. She quietly nodded, accepting his departure, even though she was afraid. Brett then walked to Octavia, and they both exited Hordak's sanctum, together. Before he walked out, Brett gave Brittni one last look of encouragement, then departed. Brittni looked up at Hordak, nervously.

"I can perceive your anxiety, Nurse Brittni. There is a reason I wished to speak with you, alone." Hordak said, more cordially than usual. He stood up, folded his arms behind his back and began walking down the stairs, "I have heard of your inquiry of the war between us and the Rebellion…" Brittni slightly gasped upon hearing Hordak's knowledge of her question.

"H..how did you know-" Brittni began before she was interrupted by a mimicry of her voice, coming from the imp that flew by her.

"_Keirnan, why are the Horde and Rebellion fighting?" _Brittni looked up and saw that grey demon, perched on a power conduit, its mouth agape. It was as though it was an organic recorder, because Brittni's voice was coming out of the imp's mouth. She shuddered upon hearing her own words reiterated from that infant looking demon. She switched glances between Hordak and the imp. Fear began flowing through her, as if she had signed a death sentence from asking a simple question. Hordak arrived at the bottom of the steps, then moved closer to Brittni. He literally looked down on her and peered into her eyes. She started to sweat and shake from her nerves that were being rattled by Hordak's presence. Hordak then pulled his neck back and began speaking.

"Normally, I don't expect my soldiers to question our goals. I only expect them to follow orders and execute objectives." He walked passed her and continued speaking as he arrived at his workbench. Brittni turned towards him, no longer at attention, "however, because of your exceptional effort in the siege of Elberon, and the fact that you and your brother captured the Mayor, I feel it to be a tactical decision to indulge your curiosity. Consider it an… investment to ensure that you continue to serve the Horde, loyally." Hordak said, objectively.

"Th..thank you, Lord Hordak." Brittni said, humbly. Hordak grumbled in reply. He then walked over to Brittni and held out his right hand. In his hand, rested a scroll of some sort.

"Take it. Read, and you will understand." Hordak commanded. Accordingly. Brittni, with a little hesitation, reached for the scroll, unraveled it, and began reading:

"_**To: Hordak, leader of the Bright Zone.**_

_**It has come to our attention that your tax payment is overdue. It is becoming tiresome to remind you of the amnesty that has been granted to you by her majesty. If you are to continue to abstain from supporting the kingdom that you freely aligned yourself with, there will be dire consequences. If we do not receive the requested payment in the next three days, you will be arrested, and serve a sentence; the time served, equivalent of owed taxes. This is your final notice.**_

_**Regards,**_

_**Bright Moon Department of the Treasury. **_

Brittni re-read and analyzed the scroll several times before looking up. Hordak had his arms folded in front of him and had his head down.

"I refused to pay because I could not pay…" Hordak said, his voice getting more calm. He started pacing around in front of Brittni, "I arrived into the Bright Zone; as the Fright Zone was previously known as, much longer before you were born. I began establishing a settlement. I had begun mining for resources and slowly began building a following. Many of these people were those that had been oppressed by the rulers of Bright Moon. Bright Moon took notice of all my work and decided to exploit it. They claimed that my settlement was apart of their kingdom and that I owed them half of all the resources I had obtained. I refused, as those resources were necessary to sustain my settlement. In response, sent troops to come take my resources by force. When they arrived, they didn't know we were willing to use force to defend ourselves. When they saw that we refused to surrender our assets, they sent a major force, thus beginning the war." Hordak stopped pacing and got close to Brittni, looking her in the eyes, his voice getting more agitated. "Yes, Brittni, the Rebellion are the instigators. They are the ones that named this the Fright Zone. They're the ones that tried to steal our resources." Hordak's voice got more calm as he finished this last statement, "they're the ones that attacked first." Brittni was completely devoid of words. So much information had just penetrated her mind. She felt more satisfied with the moral implications of what she had been doing. Hordak didn't seem to be lying, as Brittni could feel the conviction in his vocal frequencies. Brittni closed the scroll.

"This… actually helps a lot, Lord Hordak. Thank you." Brittni said, reassured. Hordak took the scroll from her hands.

"I trust there will not be any hesitation in your future endeavors." Hordak said, authoritatively. Brittni saluted him.

"No, of course not, my Lord." Brittni said, with zeal. Hordak nodded, which was kind of an equivalent of him smiling. Hordak started walking up the staircase to his throne.

"I can see promotions in your future, Nurse Brittni. You will be one of my greatest soldiers." Hordak sat on his throne, then added, "Be more merciless, like your brother. Dismissed." Hordak said, resolutely.

"Thank you, Lord Hordak…" Brittni said as she bowed. She walked to the door, and exited Hordak's sanctum. Once she walked out, she took several deep breaths. She felt more content with the attack on Elberon. She didn't necessarily mind that she wasn't promoted, and was definitely proud of Brett for getting promoted. However, she was taken aback when Hordak's suggestion 'be more merciless' like Brett.

"_He's not merciless… He's not a killer… he's a soldier." _Brittni thought, trying to convince herself. Brett _was_ ready to kill, and _had_ killed several rebel soldiers. But that was self defense.. It was just to accomplish the mission.

...Right?


	12. Chapter 12: The Monumental Room

Chapter 12: The Monumental Room

Between the nightmare, night terror, being summoned to Hordak's sanctum, and her brother's promotion, Brittni had somehow forgot about the most important thing to her:

Food.

She didn't realize how ravenous she was. She first went to her quarters to drop off her armor, change into a Horde uniform, and then made her way to the mess hall to get some food. The mess hall was like any other room in the Fright Zone. Devoid of color except the green tint from the power conduits that suffused throughout every building. Lined in perfect measurements, laid the bare metal tables, occupied my a large amount of cadets. At the end of the hall was the food well, manned by a few octopus women. They looked similar to Octavia, but much bigger, and had more features of an octopus than human. Brittni made her way over there and got in line to grab a daily ration bar. In front of her in line was a rather tall and muscular girl named Amazona. She had light skin, slanted green eyes that had a line pupil, as opposed to a circular one Her hair was long and blond and her ears ended in a point. Both figuratively and literally, Amazona had a big head. Other than her eyes, the most distinctive feature was the scales that ran down sectional parts of her body, the rest being skin. Growing up, Amazona was incredibly jealous of Brittni and Brett because of their observational powers. She did a lot to try and belittle Brittni. Simple things like making fun of her height, placing things out of reach for her, and just generally teasing her. Amazona would look for times when Brittni would fail at something and exploit that failure to make a rude remark, such as when Brittni was once pinned by her in wrestling.

"_Aw… Gosh, Brittni, I thought you were supposed to be able to anticipate every single one of my moves? I guess your observation isn't as sharp as you think." _Brittni remembered Amazona saying one time after Brittni lost to her. She felt horrible that day until Brett was able to comfort her. At any rate, Brittni stood behind her and groaned internally, trying to remain inconspicuous so as to not provoke Amazona. Her efforts were in vain, however, for as soon as Brittni stood behind Amazona, she turned towards Brittni and began speaking to her.

"Oh! Brittni, I see you're back from your mission on Elberon, I bet it was pretty intense." Amazona said, and chuckled a bit before continuing, "well, not as intense as our attack on Silverpine Forest. You would have been scared out of your armor. There were ghosts and giant spiders, and… well, I should stop now, I don't want to scare you." Amazona then winked at Brittni. Brittni groaned and rolled her eyes.

"I have been through way too much to even begin tolerating anything that spews out of your mouth. Just shut up and move the line along, we're all hungry, here!" Brittni snapped. Amazona scoffed and put her hand to her chest as though she were offended,

"Nice attitude, shortstop, see how it serves you in the real world." Amazona retorted. She immediately turned her back to Brittni and moved forward. Brittni just rolled her eyes, trying to ignore her. When it was finally Brittni's turn to grab some food, she held up her cafeteria tray. The octopus lady used one of her tentacles that held tongs, to drop a lumpy looking rectangle that was supposedly food, onto Brittni's tray. Brittni's eyes despaired after realizing that it was a brown food ration, rather than the highly coveted gray ration. She groaned, in a whimpering manner. Brittni then heard a whistle to her right. She looked over to see Amazona mockingly shaking a gray food ration in front of Brittni. Brittni's jaw dropped and salivated slightly.

"Oh, sorry, Brittni. I figured you would've noticed there was only one gray food ration left. I mean, that's your skill, right?" Amazona then raised the ration to her mouth and took a big bite, "Mmm.. sho good." Amazona finished speaking as she began chewing. She then left with her posse, laughing as they went to go sit down. Brittni tried stifling a growl before calming herself down.

"_Keep it together, Brittni. She's just jealous. You're the one that was personally summoned by Hordak, not her." _Brittni closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then walked around and scanned the area to see who to sit next to. Near the far end she saw Adora waving her hand, motioning for Brittni to go over. Brittni smiled upon seeing a friendly face and made her way over. Once she got over there she also saw Catra, Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio. She sat down next to Adora, opposite of Kyle. She smiled at Kyle and he blushed a little bit, looking away. She knew that he had a huge crush on her.

"Brittni! It's great to see you! How was your first mission?" Adora asked, vivaciously while putting her hand on her shoulder. Upon being asked about the mission, Brittni hesitated to answer for a moment. Adora's smile started curving downward and her eyebrows slanted. Adora then asked, "Brittni? Are you okay?" Brittni took a deep breath then exhaled and looked at Adora.

"Yeah, totally. Sorry, I'm just a little worn out from the mission… But, we were successful. Elberon's ours." Brittni said, adding enthusiasm to her voice. Adora's smile came back.

"That's great! I'm glad your first mission went well-" Adora began before being interrupted by Catra. Catra, sitting on the other side of Adora leaned in, slightly pushing Adora backwards.

"So, spill it! Was there a ton of explosions? Did you drive a tank?" Catra asked, excitedly. She moved in closer, almost pushing Adora off. Adora's arms started flailing, trying to keep balance,

"Whoa, whuhh, Catra!" Adora tried protesting. Catra ignored her and continued,

"Did you take on a princess?! Oh, man, I need to blow something up!" Catra's eyes started glittering. Adora moved forward and pushed Catra back into her seat. Brittni giggled a little bit and became more open about talking about the siege on Elberon. She went on to tell the tale. She tried to avoid all the violent and bloody parts, but talked about the tactics they used, the betrayal of Vultak, the castle, the Mirror Maze, Glimmer, and Dragstor's wound. The entire group stared at Brittni, mouths agape. For a few moments, there wasn't much commentary other than a few gasps, "wow's" and "whoa's." Hearing the astoundment brightened Brittni up. She was still upset at Amazona, though. Catra spoke up,

"Geez…" Catra started, in astonishment, her voice low and head looking down. Suddenly her voice got much louder and she slammed her palms onto the table, "That's awesome! All the explosions! And diversions! And betrayal… Man, I'm glad that vulture got what he deserved. Traitors are the worst kind of scum. Right Adora?" Adora looked at Catra,

"Absolutely." Adora said, authoritatively, "but, I have to wonder… Vultak must have had some motive for doing what he did."

"Are you kidding me, Adora? Who cares what his motive was?! Because of him, a lot of us died. Imagine if it was one of us." Catra rebutted. Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle nodded their heads. Meanwhile, Brittni was picking at the brown brick in front of her with a fork.

"Yo, Brittni, where's your head at?" Lonnie asked, eyeing her thoughtfully. Brittni looked up,

"Oh, uh… Sorry, it's just... There was none of the gray ration bars left…" Brittni muttered, irritated, "Amazona took the last one." Kyle immediately stood up with his hands on the table.

"I'll go get you another one!" Kyle shouted a little too loudly. Everybody at the table looked at him, shocked. Before Brittni could reply, Kyle started rushing towards the food line demanding a gray ration bar.

"I need a gray one! C'mon, I'll give you a little more on my allowance for the week!" Kyle begged from the octopus woman. The woman sighed and headed to the back to grab another gray ration bar from the back stock. Lonnie, observing the entire scene started chuckling,

"Gee, Brittni, I didn't know Kyle had the hots for you." Lonnie teased. Brittni rolled her eyes.

"He wishes… poor guy. He is sweet, though." Brittni said, smiling. Catra groaned,

"Ugh, just what this place needs. 'Sweet guys.' We need soldiers, not hopeless romantics." Catra said, sarcastically.

"Hey, give him a chance, guys. He tries harder than all of us." Adora said, reassuringly.

"He almost made us fail!" Catra argued. As soon as the octopus woman plopped the gray ration bar onto Kyle's tray, almost in one motion, he started rushing back to give Brittni the bar. All his efforts proved to be in vain, however, as when he was running back, he tripped over somebody's foot. He seemed to fall in slow motion as the tray clattered to the floor, and his face went right into the gray food stuffs. A simultaneous gasp echoed the mess hall which was then followed by an outburst of laughter. Kyle moved his face up, and started wiping the ration bar off his face,

"Aw, man…" Kyle muttered as the embarrassment and laughter enshrouded him. Brittni stood up to see who the perpetrator was. She scanned the mess hall and found the very same person: Amazona. Brittni growled and marched over to Kyle and held out her hand.

"You okay?" Brittni asked, sympathetically. Before Kyle could answer, Amazona gave a hearty laugh.

"Ha! You need your girlfriend to save you, Kyle?" Amazona sneered. The crowd laughed even harder. The rage in Brittni was slowly building up. She stood up and slammed her fist onto the table next to her, while staring at Amazona, a few tables down. The entire mess hall went silent, and was staring at Brittni. Even Amazona was focused. The same hand that Brittni used to slam her fist, suddenly pointed at Amazona.

"Are you that insecure of yourself that you have to push others around in order to feel in control?" Brittni demanded, angrily, "It's bad enough that you have to take steroids to make yourself feel stronger; which, by the way, I can tell you've actually lost 2.7% muscle in the last week." The mess hall gasped, and Amazona stood there, mouth agape. Suddenly, Amazona's eyes curved into a glare.

"What did you say, you little brat?" Amazona demanded, indignantly. Brittni smirked.

"What? The part about your insecurity based on the fact that the only partial respect that anyone's ever given you was out of fear? Or the part about your obvious needle marks, and your rapid muscle gain? I don't feel the need to explain the science, but I'll simply say that you're using, girl." Amazona stood up from her table and started marching towards Brittni, eyes full of hatred. Brittni squared up her legs, putting her left foot forward, and right foot slightly outwards on the right. Amazona came within a few feet of Brittni. Kyle was still on the ground, but slowly crawled away passed Brittni. Amazona pointed a finger at Brittni.

"I'll give you a chance to take back everything you just said, and I won't completely tear you apart." Amazona sneered. Brittni looked around at her surroundings. She noticed that Amazona's right foot was resting upon some of the gray ration bar that Kyle had dropped. Brittni smirked and said,

"Really? Sounds like either way, you're not tearing me apart." Brittni said, smiling devilishly. Amazona's face turned more sinister as she gritted her teeth. She put pressure on her foot that was resting upon the gray ration bar and went to run at Brittni. However, the gray food splotch was slippery, causing Amazona to start slipping. Her arms began flailing in the air and she started protesting her certain downfall as she collapsed onto her hands and knees. During this confusion, Brittni ran at Amazona, grabbing her head with her left arm, and forced it onto the ground. Brittni then flipped over to where she was facing the same way as Amazona. Using her right arm, Brittni grabbed Amazona's right arm and pulled it up. Amazona cried out in pain. Muttering and gasping pervaded the entire mess hall, in anticipation of what would happen next.

"I can break several of your bones in several different ways. I suggest you give up and get out of here." Brittni threatened. Amazona growled and tried to use one of her legs to kick Brittni from behind. Anticipating Amazona's tactics, Brittni used her right leg to back kick the leg coming at her, causing Amazona to cry out in even more pain. Right as Amazona was about to give in, one of her friends, a girl that had a body type comparable to Rogelio started charging at Brittni, tackling her off Amazona. This also caused Amazona's arm to be pulled the wrong way. Amazona began writhing in pain, not being able to pick herself up. Meanwhile, the brute of a girl that was on top of Brittni went to punch her. Brittni struggled, but could not push the girl off her. As the robust girl's hand was about to make contact with Brittni, the girl screamed out in pain. Brittni looked over and saw none other than her twin land a kick into the girl's oblique.

"Brett!" Brittni cried in gratitude. He nodded at her, then grabbed the large woman by the shoulders and pushed her off into a table, causing it to crack in half. He helped Brittni up and put his arm around her shoulders.

"You okay?" Brett asked. Brittni nodded. The touching reunion was interrupted by screaming. Amazona had just picked herself up, her eyes filled with rage as she gritted her teeth at the Twins.

"Amazons! Take down those two would-be's!" Amazona sneered. The Amazons were the appropriately named squad lead by Amazona. As she yelled for her comrades to come, they indeed did. There had to have been about 7 that appeared right behind her. Brittni shuddered a bit wondering how they would take them. Brett just shifted his neck from the left to the right, popping it. The Twins moved themselves into a battle position, raising their fists up.

"Ha!" Amazona scoffed, "do you two really think you can take on all of us?"

"If they fight as terribly as you talk, probably." Brett sneered, facetiously. Amazona growled.

"It's two against eight, genius, do the math, you're gonna lose." Amazona said, sternly.

"Make that three against eight." a voice from behind the Twins said. It was Adora! Adora went and stood beside Brittni, squaring up her body, "don't be such a coward, Amazona! Let's see how you can fight against three of us!" Amazona glared at Adora,

"Two Twin mistakes and miss perfectionist? No problem." Amazona declared. Catra casually walked up beside Adora, her arms folded and eyes half closed.

"I mean, I don't really care, but I'm always happy to have an excuse to rip somebody apart." Catra said callously, "so, I guess I'm four?"

"Make that five!" another voice said from behind. This one was Lonnie. She moved to stand beside Brett, also squaring up her body. The Amazons started to shudder. Amazona continued to glare, but her gritted teeth started shaking in fear.

"If you think that any of you makes any kind of difference, well you can-" Amazona started to yell before she was interrupted by a loud roar. Behind the five was Rogelio, gently pushing them out of the way. The lizard man went in front and roared yet again, the reverb of his roar, echoing the entire mess hall. Amazona's mouth started to quiver. She quickly stopped her shaking and pointed at her opponents.

"Grrr, enough! Amazons! Attack!" Amazona shouted. And with that, the two groups ran at each other to a massive collision. Fists, feet, claws, and even teeth were being used as weapons in this altercation. It started becoming a bloodbath. One Amazon grabbed Lonnie and was using a cafeteria tray on her. Two Amazons were trying to take down Rogelio. They jumped on either side of his shoulders. He spun around trying to get them off. One flew against a dining bench, blowing it off its stand. One Amazon had Catra on the ground, and they were trading blows. The Amazon managed to get her a couple of times in the face until Adora kicked her off. Catra gasped then smiled at Adora.

"Thanks, Adora!" Catra said, grinning, devilishly. Adora winked, then Catra jumped on the Amazon that Adora had just kicked, while Adora got jumped by another Amazon. Brett was easily analyzing the moves of another Amazon, dodging every single one of her punches. One punch that the Amazon threw at Brett was her downfall. He grabbed her fist, midair, and used the momentum to toss her at Lonnie's opponent. The last Amazon; Amazona, was squared up, fists raised, ready to attack Brittni. Nearly simultaneously, Brittni and Amazona threw punches at each other. Once their fists were within inches of making a connection with each others faces, they suddenly were forcibly stopped. Some kind of reddish black aura surrounded them. Their entire body, as well as the bodies of everyone that was fighting was suddenly encircled in the reddish black aura. An electrical ambient sound was also heard. As hard as everyone tried, they were completely immobile. Soon after this aberration began, Shadow Weaver appeared, inches away from Brittni's face. Brittni's eyes slowly turned towards Shadow Weaver, completely full of fear. Shadow Weaver was facing forward, but slowly turned her head towards Brittni. The eyes behind Shadow Weaver's mask curved into a glare.

"Brittni…" Shadow Weaver began saying with an uncharacteristically calm tone, "walk with me, I would speak with you." Suddenly, the black aura dissipated from around Brittni. And she collapsed as though all of her strength had been siphoned from the aura. She fell onto her knees and started coughing and gasping for breath. Shadow Weaver held out her hand for Brittni to grab. She did, and Shadow Weaver helped her up. As they turned to leave, they heard Amazona attempting to speak.

"B...But...Shadow...Weaver…" Amazona started saying. Shadow Weaver immediately turned around and seemingly floated to Amazona, inches from her face.

"SILENCE." Shadow Weaver commanded, indignantly, "don't think I didn't see everything that you instigated. You will take your squad to Sergeant Bleue for reconditioning. Immediately." The black aura began dissipating from Amazona, and she collapsed to the floor and coughed just like Brittni. Brittni just stood there, mouth agape. Shadow Weaver once again turned towards Brittni began walking in her direction until Amazona protested again.

"Shadow Weaver, wait! I didn't-" Amazona began. Shadow Weaver turned around again and held out her claw like fingers at Amazona. The black aura enshrouded Amazona again and started levitating her.

"Perhaps you didn't hear me, Amazona." Shadow Weaver started with a low voice. Her voice rose in anger with the following sentence, "When I said, 'immediately,' I meant, DO IT NOW before there are severe repercussions! Do I make myself clear?" Shadow Weaver demanded. Amazona nodded erratically, "good. Now, go!" Shadow Weaver finished. The black aura once again dissipated from Amazona as she was still being levitated. With the Aura no longer holding her, she fell with a deafening crash onto the floor. Amazona groaned in pain. Shadow Weaver's eyes behind the slits in her mask glowed a dark red. Amazona quivered in fear, backing up on the ground. She then picked herself up and rushed out of the room. Shadow Weaver then walked back to Brittni, put her arm around her shoulders and proceeded to guide her out of the room. Before she left, she stopped by Adora.

"Adora, you're too exemplary to engage in these childish scuffles." Shadow Weaver declared, her tone becoming more sweet. Shadow Weaver gently brushed Adora's cheek, "don't let this happen again." She then walked up to Brett, "Brett, do not keep Octavia waiting any longer." Brett blinked in response. She glared at the rest, then snapped her fingers, deactivating the black aura. Everyone had the same reaction as Brittni and Amazona, collapsing, coughing, and gasping for breath.

As the duo made their way out of the mess hall, both remained rather silent. Uncomfortable with the silence, Brittni finally spoke up,

"I'm… sorry for causing that fight, Shadow Weaver." Brittni said, solemnly. Shadow Weaver, continued to hold her arm around Brittni's shoulders.

"Brittni, if there is one thing I've learned in this life, it's that there are those who act, and those who are acted upon. Kyle was acted upon because he refuses to stand up for himself. You are the one who uses action. You saw a comrade that was placed in a rather compromising situation, and you reacted accordingly. That is why you and your brother were victorious, and that is why you will continue to be victorious." Shadow Weaver declared, boldly. Brittni smiled,

"Thank you, Shadow Weaver." Brittni replied.

"I have high hopes for you and your brother." Shadow Weaver said, reassuringly. Brittni was lost in thought and didn't respond, "Brittni?"

"Oh!" Brittni exclaimed, "my apologies, Shadow Weaver, I just have a lot on my mind." Shadow Weaver nodded. Brittni was lost in thought. For some reason, the room that the voice spoke of kept permeating around her mind. The Monumental Room. What was that room? If anyone could answer, it was Shadow Weaver. Brittni decided to take that chance.

"Shadow Weaver… does the Fright Zone have… a monumental room?" Brittni inquired. As soon as Shadow Weaver heard Brittni's words, she stopped dead in her tracks. Brittni, not expecting Shadow Weaver's sudden halt, moved a couple steps passed Shadow Weaver and turned towards her, nervously. Shadow Weaver brought put her hands on her hips.

"That's a very specific place you're asking about…" Shadow Weaver said in suspicion, "what makes you ask about that?" Brittni felt a little nervous, but quickly thought of a reason.

"Oh, well… Dragstor told me about it on our way to Elberon. You know how he loves history." Brittni said, grinning and scratching the back of her head in anxiousness. Shadow Weaver continued to eye her suspiciously, but ended up disclosing the location.

"Ah… Follow me." Shadow Weaver said as she guided her down a few hallways until they hit a dead end, "here we are." Brittni stared blankly at the wall, then at Shadow Weaver.

"Uh…" Brittni murmured. Shadow Weaver lightly chuckled.

"Do what you do best, child, and observe." Shadow Weaver replied as she wriggled her fingers rhythmically, drawing a rectangular shape in the air. As she drew the shape, it began filling with that black aura that was restraining everyone in the mess hall. The shape then slowly levitated towards the wall, and imprinted onto it, creating a door. Although Brittni had seen plenty of magic, especially Shadow Weavers, somehow she was always astonished. Shadow Weaver walked over and opened the door, leading Brittni into some kind of room that was halfway between a treasury and museum. The size of the room was about the size of the mess hall. Lining the walls were shelves filled with various, random objects. In the middle were glass display cases containing more precious objects. Brittni's eyes grew wider as she walked into the room, admiring the scenery. The room did look like a typical Horde room, with green power conduits and relays streaming the walls, and metal as the base building material of the walls. However, the floor seemed to be tiled with precious stone.

"Wow… Dragstor wasn't kidding…" Brittni muttered, continuing to admire the room.

"Indeed." Shadow Weaver replied. She walked towards Brittni and began pointing at different display cases and shelves, indicating what was in them.

"All of these objects are souvenirs from conquests by the Horde. The furthest shelves are the oldest, and as we get closer to the entrance, you'll find the most recent additions. We have everything from precious jewelry, to rebellion weapons, to different furs, to artwork, and everything in between. Lord Hordak would never admit it, but he is quite the collector." Shadow Weaver declared. Brittni walked towards a display case in the middle and saw some kind of arrow. The arrowhead seemed to possess some kind of metal alloy. It was also thick, as though it had something inside of it.

"What kind of arrow is this?" Brittni inquired. Shadow Weaver moved towards the arrow and analyzed it.

"Ah, That is an explosive arrow. The Rebellion seems to have some kind of master archer that's technologically sound in their ranks." Shadow Weaver claimed. She sighed, "if only he placed his sympathies with the Horde." Brittni nodded, then thought again about the crystal ball. She turned to Shadow Weaver.

"Shadow Weaver, is there anything from around the time when I was born?" Brittni inquired. Shadow Weaver folded her arms and put her finger to the lower part of her mask.

"I believe so. Follow me." Shadow Weaver beckoned. The duo walked past various shelves full of objects that Brittni did not recognize. Curious about some, she would stop every few shelves and inquire of an object. For instance, Brittni picked up some kind of axe. The handle had a leather grip, and the head holding the blade in place was made of some kind of steel. The blade, foregrip, and pommel, however, seemed to be some kind of… sharpened ice.

"What kind of axe is this?" Brittni inquired.

"Ah, that is an axe made from Stahlrim. It is some kind of enchanted ice that is only available from a land called Tamriel." Brittni flipped it over and admired it for a moment, then put it back. Brittni also took notice of a big metal helmet that had tinted glass visors, a headlamp on the top left corner, and a vent where the mouth should be. The vent had tubes coming from it, going into the helmet. Shadow Weaver explained that the helmet was called a T-60 Power Helmet, taken from some organization called the Brotherhood of Steel. All of these things were fascinating to Brittni, but she reminded herself that she had to find that crystal ball. Finally, the two made their way to the shelf that had objects from around the time that the Twins were born. Almost a little too enthusiastically, Brittni began rummaging through the shelves and display cases. Shadow Weaver stood a few feet away from Brittni, puzzled by her enthusiasm towards the objects.

"Is there something in particular you're looking for?" Shadow Weaver inquired in suspicion. Brittni immediately stopped.

"Oh, uh… I guess not, there's just so much here. I'm excited to see some things around from my birth." Brittni declared, nervously. Shadow Weaver had her arms folded.

"I see… well, we cannot stay for very much longer. This is more of Lord Hordak's shrine of victories than a public display, and I wouldn't want to find you in trouble for rifling through his things." Shadow Weaver, said indicatively. Brittni nodded, and quickly went back to exploring the items. She looked through the objets more methodically, so as to not raise suspicion. Suddenly, Brittni began hearing a voice.

_"Brittni…" _Brittni shuddered and looked around. Thankfully, Shadow Weaver didn't notice as she was putting the objects that Brittni was admiring back to where they were placed. The voice continued, _"Brittni… look under the right side of the display case… you will find me…" _Brittni, without hesitating, went over to the display case and began digging through to the right side. Suddenly, she began seeing an illumination. She dug faster, pulling different objects out of the way until she finally saw it: The crystal ball. As she put her hands on it, the glow began fading. Brittni began carefully pulling the crystal towards her until she heard Shadow Weaver.

"Find what you're looking for?" Shadow Weaver inquired. Brittni gasped, and nearly dropped the crystal ball, fumbling it in her hands. Once she got a grip, she pulled it to her chest.

"Uh, yes! I mean, I guess? Uh… this looked pretty cool." Brittni stammered, presenting the crystal ball to Shadow Weaver. Shadow Weaver moved closer and put her hands around the crystal ball, examining it closely. Pulling it out of Brittni's grasp, Shadow Weaver held the ball in one hand, while her other hand was stroking it, almost methodically. Finally, Shadow Weaver returned the crystal ball back to Brittni.

"Some kind of old knick knack. I thought for a moment that there would be some magic in it. At any rate, we need to go. Come along, Brittni." Shadow Weaver, commanded. Brittni switched glances between Shadow Weaver and the crystal ball.

"Can I just stay for… just one more minute, Shadow Weaver?" Shadow Weaver narrowed her masked eyes at Brittni.

"You try my patience, child." Shadow Weaver muttered. She sighed, then continued, "I'll be at the front entrance. Make it quick, and meet me there." Shadow Weaver then walked away towards the door she had created. Once Shadow Weaver was gone, Brittni gazed at the crystal ball.

"Okay, crystal ball, or whatever. Now that I have you in my hand, it'd be nice if you could talk quick." Brittni said, impatiently. Silence was the only reply she received. Brittni growled a little bit.

"Hey! C'mon! I came here! You clearly wanted to talk-" Brittni began before being interrupted by the crystal ball as it began to glow and speak,

_"Brittni. Listen, I don't have much time, I need you to free me. I am aware you need to leave. But come back for me. There is a key at the bottom of the display case. That will allow you to return here and retrieve this crystal ball. I will have further instructions, soon. For now, come back tonight when you have the chance. A major change in the Horde is going to happen tonight, and it involves your friends, Adora and Catra. Keep watch over them. You will be instrumental in helping them restore balance. Continue to watch over your brother. Help him stay on the straight and narrow path. This is all I can say for now. Retrieve me as soon as possible. Thank you, Brittni." _With that, the crystal ball's glow faded. Brittni shuddered at everything she just heard. She shook the crystal ball a few times, but nothing happened. She put it back at the bottom of the display case, and sure enough found a thick looking key. She took it and put it in her pocket.

"Brittni, it's time to go!" Shadow Weaver shouted from the front entrance. Not wanting to keep Shadow Weaver waiting, Brittni ran towards her. As she ran, she wondered about the many things that the crystal ball said. Despite all the information that the crystal ball managed to give in just a few seconds, Brittni had no idea what was in store for her, in the very near future.


	13. Chapter 13: The Instructions

Chapter 13: The Instructions

As Shadow Weaver escorted Brittni out of the monumental room, a copious amount of thoughts and questions were parading around in Brittni's mind. Who was that in the crystal ball? Was it the crystal ball that _was _the voice? What was happening tonight with Adora and Catra? Does helping them restore balance mean defeating the Rebellion? These instructions and questions from an incorporeal being were so cryptic. Out of all these questions Brittni was asking herself, the most cryptic of all them was one that was very personal to her.

"_What did the voice mean when she said, 'Continue to watch over your brother. Help him stay on the straight and narrow path?'" _It seemed as though the crystal ball said that almost as some kind of after thought, and yet, that piece of instruction was at the forefront of Brittni's mind.

"_Straight and narrow? But, Brett's fine… He has a big heart and great loyalty to the Horde… He'll always be a good person."_ Brittni thought to herself. Shadow Weaver took notice of Brittni's silence.

"Brittni? What seems to be troubling you?" Shadow Weaver inquired. Brittni looked up at Shadow Weaver.

"Oh, uh… well, I'm honestly still hungry. I never did get that ration bar…" Brittni said, hiding her real feelings. Shadow Weaver stopped her stride, lightly chuckled, and wiggled her fingers, rhythmically. That dark aura that had restrained the cadets in the mess hall suddenly began transuding from Shadow Weaver's fingers. Brittni shuddered and took a step away from it. Shadow Weaver continued to focus the black aura as she used it to draw a circle in the air with her fingers. Shortly after Shadow Weaver's conjuration, a portal, the size of a wall mirror appeared. Shadow Weaver reached into the portal and pulled out a plate that had a gray ration bar laying on it. Brittni gasped as Shadow Weaver handed her the plate. Brittni gently pulled the plate from Shadow Weaver's hands, switching glances between the food and Shadow Weaver.

"Thank you, Shadow Weaver!" Brittni said, gratefully as she shoved the gray ration bar into her mouth, chewing rather quickly. Despite wearing a mask, Shadow Weaver looked strangely at Brittni.

"Yes… well, the Horde does need its medical staff fully nourished." Shadow Weaver said, cordially, "now, I must go and speak with Adora. While Dragstor is out of commission for the time being, we'll be needing another Force Captain." Brittni's mouth went agape.

"Adora's getting promoted?" Brittni inquired.

"Oh, yes. She is one of our best. She'll make her debut as Force Captain when we commence the invasion of Thaymore." Shadow Weaver said, putting her hand on Brittni's shoulder, "don't worry, though. Your time will come." Brittni gave a forced smile.

"_I'd rather be in the clinic… not the battlefield…" _Brittni thought to herself. The duo made their way to a fork in the hallway. Shadow Weaver went to the left which lead towards the female cadet locker room. Brittni waved goodbye to Shadow Weaver and went to the right towards her quarters. As Brittni was walking, her thoughts continued to encircle her mind.

"_That crystal ball said that tonight, the Horde was going to change… what exactly is going to happen?" _Brittni questioned herself, _"It has something to do with Adora and Catra... I can't tell Hordak, he doesn't believe in all that hocus pocus. Plus, that's going to give away the fact that Shadow Weaver allowed me into Hordak's prized possessions room… Shadow Weaver would kill me. But I'm going to have to keep an eye on Adora and Catra." _Brittni finished her thoughts as she finally arrived at her quarters. She unlocked the door, and slipped in. It was around 17:00, so Keirnan would be arriving soon. She had no idea when Brett would show up from his new promotion. Brittni took a seat on the couch planning on what exactly she was going to do that night. She had to get the crystal ball, but she also had to watch over Adora and Catra. It didn't help that the crystal ball was rather vague at the timeline in which all of these things were going to happen. Brittni buried her head in her hands and groaned out loud, thinking of all these obstacles. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in order to clear her mind. She raised her head up, then opened her eyes.

"Okay, here's what I'll do. I'll get to the Monumental Room, first, grab the crystal ball really quick, then find Adora and Catra. Simple." Brittni said.

"You'll do what?" Keirnan inquired. Brittni shrieked and nearly fell forward, off the chair she was sitting in. She turned her back to face Keirnan, standing behind the chair with his arms folded.

"Oh! Hi, Keirnan. Uh, how was your day?" Brittni asked, rubbing the back of her head. Keirnan narrowed his eyes at her.

"It was fine. Now how about telling me about the Monumental Room?" Keirnan asked, sternly. Brittni's cheeks started reddening from anxiety. She picked herself back up to the chair and sat down. Keirnan walked around the chair and knelt down next to Brittni. He looked around, suspicious of the Imp, then whispered.

"Do you mean to tell me you actually made it to the Monumental Room? How did you even know about it? What made you want to go there?" Keirnan asked, almost apprehensively.

"Keirnan… I know almost nothing about my past. I just wanted to see something, anything from my childhood." Brittni started before taking a big sigh, "look, what I'm about to say is going to sound incredibly weird, but I was… lead there." Keirnan cocked his eyebrow.

"Lead there? By whom?" Keirnan inquired. Brittni looked Keirnan straight in the eye, and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"I went through your photo album." Brittni said, to Keirnan's shock. He opened his mouth to say something before being rebuked by Brittni: "wait, don't freak out, just listen." Keirnan gritted his teeth, briefly, then nodded. Brittni continued, "while I was in the photo album, I came across a certain photo… It seemed to be calling out to me. The picture… well, it… It started to glow." Keirnan's mouth went agape.

"Glow…?" Kiernan asked, distantly.

"Yeah, like, it was shining until I looked at the picture and saw this crystal ball. As soon as I looked at the crystal ball, I heard a voice. It told me to "find" her in the Monumental Room." Brittni whispered, with conviction. Keirnan said nothing, but gazed at Brittni, intently. Brittni continued, "anyway, I made up some excuse so Shadow Weaver could get me in there, and, well… I found the crystal ball. The crystal ball told me that I needed to come back and pick her up, and that I had to watch out for Adora and Catra, and help them restore balance, and.. And.." Brittni began breathing heavily. Keirnan put his hands on Brittni's shoulders and gently shushed her.

"Hey, shhh… Take a moment, Brittni. You're fine. Take a deep breath." Keirnan directed. Brittni took a deep breath and exhaled, slowly. Keirnan took one hand off one of her shoulders and continued to whisper, "listen, Brittni, I don't know exactly what's going on… but there's no way you could have known about the Monumental Room unless everything you said was true." Brittni's worried expression curved into a smile as a tear ran down her face. Keirnan quickly wiped it and continued, "well, I've seen and heard a lot of aberrations in my life. Things I didn't believe could exist, and yet, here we are. I believe you, Brittni, and I believe this has something to do with you, and your brothers powers. If there's one thing I've learned, is that you always trust your instincts." Although normally, Keirnan was incredibly protective of the Twins, something about what Brittni was saying seemed to ring with conviction. Keirnan also thought back to when Shadow Weaver questioned Keirnan's parenting towards the Twins. Back when she had censured him for coddling them. If there really was something significant happening that night that Brittni was supposed to be apart of, he wasn't going to allow himself to get in her way.

"If this crystal ball did speak to you, then you have to trust it. Believe me when I say, I've seen stranger things." Keirnan said, supportively. Brittni smiled and leaned forward to wrap Keirnan in a hug. He smiled upon being embraced. When Brittni pulled back, she continued her whisper.

"Okay… the crystal ball said I need to retrieve it and keep an eye on Adora and Catra, tonight. I know that I'd be going after hours… but." Brittni began, waiting for Keirnan's reaction. He looked at Brittni thoughtfully, rubbing his chin.

"If I can remember correctly, the Monumental Room should be in the Western Quadrant of this complex, right?" Keirnan inquired. Brittni nodded, "okay, there aren't too many guards around that quadrant, so you should be able to evade most of the guards. Brittni's eyes grew wide upon hearing what Keirnan was suggesting.

"Keirnan, this is so unlike you…" Brittni said, surprised. Keirnan chuckled.

"Sometimes you have to bend the rules for the greater good… You two are not children anymore. If this is what that crystal ball told you to do, I think you should listen to it. I remember that day that you were brought in, very memorably. There was an enormous amount of magical energy that pervaded all of the items that the Horde brought along with you, so I think that what you're saying is legitimate." Keirnan said. Brittni was astounded by this sudden change in Keirnan, but she wasn't complaining.

"Thanks, Keirnan. You don't have to worry. I've memorized the guard patrols, so I know when they switch posts." Brittni said, candidly. Keirnan smiled.

"I don't doubt it. You and your brother's gifts have always astonished me." Keirnan said, reassuringly. Brittni had just remembered Brett, and her expression changed to concerned.

"Should we tell Brett?" Brittni asked, almost worried. Keirnan thought for a few moments then sighed.

"For now, let's keep this between us. Your brother's pretty quick to go gung ho on an operation. I think the less people that know about this, the better." Keirnan said, sternly. Brittni looked away. She always included Brett in everything she did, so withholding information from him, seemed wrong. Nevertheless, she agreed that she wanted to keep the circle as small as possible for the moment. Keirnan continued, "besides, Octavia told me that Brett would be training for the invasion of Thaymore, and so he won't be getting home until late tonight." Brittni looked back at Keirnan and nodded. Brittni walked over to the one window in their quarters to see the time. The outside was an amber color, indicating there was still a little time before dark. Brittni decided to use this time to prepare. She went into her room to find some dark clothes. She managed to pull together some dark leggings, a long sleeve shirt, some black gloves, and black shoes. Brittni folded them onto the bed to be ready for the night. She then exited her quarters to go observe the security at the Western Quadrant. She took notice of all the security cameras as she walked. Eventually, Brittni arrived near the hallway that had a dead end where the magic, monumental door was. Brittni looked around. The opposite hallway had a door. The door lead to a residence, so Brittni didn't concern herself with it too much. She went back to the hallway that lead to this T-fork. Standing behind one of the security cameras, Brittni pulled out Keirnan's camera that she took from the quarters. She snapped a shot of where the security camera was pointing at. She then carefully taped a paperclip to the side of the security camera. Once her camera developed the picture, she very quickly slid the picture onto the paperclip. She did this with the few cameras that were currently monitoring the hallway. As she put the last picture on the last camera, she started heading back. Looking at her watch, Brittni saw that it was getting to be about 19:30. Brittni was about to start heading back when she heard a slightly distorted voice,

"Hey! What are you doing here after hours?" A guard demanded. Brittni looked over to see the guard walking towards her. She recognized the voice, despite the distorted vocals coming from the helmet. The guard once again asked, "I said, what are you doing here?" Brittni quickly hid the camera in the bag she brought then cocked her eyebrow at the guard.

"Jenson? Is that you?" Brittni inquired, peering closely at him. The guard was taken aback and stuttered a bit.

"Uh.. N-no, it's not me. I mean! Jenson! It's not… oh forget it. Yeah." Jenson said, sounding defeated. He then shook his head and regained his composure, "well, you're not supposed to be here! I should have you reprimanded for this!" Brittni narrowed her eyes at Jenson and put her hands on her hips.

"Oh really? I wasn't aware rules mattered so much to you. Say, by the way, how are those opioids you've been sneaking into the Fright Zone treating you?" Brittni demanded. Jenson started stuttering again, holding up his hands in protest.

"Whoa, hey! I thought there was patient-nurse confidentiality." Jenson protested. Brittni folded her arms.

"Tell you what. Are you patrolling here tonight?" Brittni asked. Jenson nodded, rapidly. Brittni smirked and simply said, "Don't. Go patrol somewhere else, take a break, I don't care. Do that, and I won't let Lord Hordak know that you're using unauthorized drugs. Deal?"

"D..D..Deal." Jenson stammered. Brittni smiled and walked right passed him. She then made her way back to the quarters. Keirnan had already gotten into bed, exhausted from working a twelve hour shift. Brittni had gone into her room and changed into the dark clothes she had folded on the bed. Not wanting to people to recognize her if she did happen to run into anyone, Brittni tied a cloth around her face, masking everything but her eyes. She then carefully snuck out of her quarters and headed towards the Western Quadrant. Just as she expected, she didn't see Jenson, and the cameras were looking at the pictures she had taken. She was going to have to remember to take the pictures off in order to not raise suspicion. Brittni then, without any resistance, made it to the hallway. She looked to the left where the residence was, and there was no sound. She then moved to the right where the dead end was. She then pulled out the key and plunged it into the wall. When she did that, the magical door appeared again, and she was able to walk in. Entering the room, she was still amazed at all the artifacts that had been collected by the Horde. She started walking towards the back where the crystal ball was. On the way, Brittni suddenly heard some kind of growl. She stopped dead in her tracks by the display that had that Stalhrim axe that she had previously seen. Next to the axe was some kind of gem. It was a purplish looking crystal. She picked it up and held it close. She heard the growl once again, and realized it was coming from the gem. Out of fear, Brittni shuddered and accidentally allowed the gem to slip through her hand and fall to the ground, shattering completely. Brittni shuddered,

"Oh, man… I really hope Shadow Weaver doesn't notice this." Brittni muttered. At the end of Brittni's speaking, some kind of bluish sphere emanated from the gem and started swirling like a cyclone. When the swirl started fading, a fiery figure appeared. Brittni took a few steps back, unnerved by the creature. It seemed to be some kind of living fire that had a feminine, human shape. The fire had pieces of brimstone that served as some kind of armor for some body parts. The brimstone covered the forearms, shoulders, and calves. The face was eyeless, and brimstone covered the bottom half of the face. The face extended to where human ears should've been, which then curled behind into horns. The creature seemed to levitate with fire burning beneath it. The creature took notice of Brittni and pointed at her. It started spinning around in the air. As it spun around, a fireball started building in its hand. Once the fireball was completed, the creature hurled it at Brittni. Brittni gasped and dove to the right, avoiding the fireball. When she dove, she quickly crawled to another display case and hid behind it. Brittni looked at the display case she was near and found some kind of can that had the word "Cram" embroidered on its tin exterior. She grabbed the can and hurled it at the living fire, hitting its bottom face, causing it to shriek in pain and look away. She then ran over to another display case about ten feet away from the case where she found the gem. She looked up again and saw the fire scanning the area and levitating towards her direction. She didn't have any weapons and was wondering what to do. Suddenly, she remembered the axe. She crouched, and started sneaking around to the right of the display, while the living fire was levitating to the left. The fire looked around, not noticing where Brittni had gone.

_"Man, this thing is stupid…" _Brittni muttered to herself. She then quickly snuck towards the display. Once she got to the display, Brittni lifted her head up above the case to see a fireball coming right at her. With almost superhuman speed, she ducked, dodging the fireball, "okay, maybe not that stupid." Quickly, she grabbed the Stalhrim axe. The living fire became more enraged as it saw the axe, and started levitating quickly towards Brittni. A swirling fire cyclone started building in the living fire's hand and the creature hurled it at Brittni. Quickly thinking, Brittni observed the temperature of the blade was −78.5 °C. She then hurled the axe with quick precision. The axe sliced through the fireball, causing it to dissipate, and ended up lodging into the living fire's chest. As the axe stuck into the chest, the rest of the living fire's brimstone started freezing over. The creature shrieked in some kind of pain, pulling at its chest, trying to remove the axe. The enchanted ice from the axe began enveloping over the brimstone until it was completely consumed with ice, extinguishing the living fire, harboring the brimstone. With the living fire extinguished, the brimstone collapsed to the floor with a loud thunk, leaving an icy-smoldering mess. Brittni stood there, breathing hard.

"I… I did it!" Brittni exasperated, while chuckling and putting her arms up in victory. She then sighed and said, "well, I don't think I'm gonna come back here again…" No longer interested in touching or even looking at the artifacts, Brittni made a bee-line towards the display case that housed the crystal ball. She combed through the items in the case, carefully stacking them on top of each other or gently on the ground, afraid that another artifact would attack her. Finally she saw the glow. Her hands reached for the crystal ball and pulled it out. Cupping the ball in her hands, she spoke to it.

"Um… creepy crystal ball? It's me, Brittni. I came to get you.. But, you're kinda big, so I'm not sure how I'm going to get you back without somebody noticing." Brittni said referring to the fact that the ball was about 19 cm in diameter, and was placed on a stand that stood 7cm tall.

_"You could remove it from the stand…" _The crystal ball replied, scaring Brittni. Brittni shrieked, fumbling the ball out of her hands. Luckily, she managed to grab the ball before it hit the ground. The voice continued, _"I knew you would fumble me around and manage to catch me. Forgive me, I needed a bit of… humor." _Brittni stared at the crystal ball in a wide-eyed glare.

"What? What even are you?! Why do you keep reaching out to me? What is happening tonight?" Brittni demanded.

_"Patience, young one. I will reveal all in due time. For the moment, I cannot tell you much. Using this method of communication with you requires a great deal of my power, so what I tell you must be quick." _The voice replied.

"Great deal of power? Who are you? Where are you? Why are you telling me all this?" Brittni continued to demand.

_"I will explain everything in due time. For now, you need to find Adora and Catra. They will be coming back from their trip from the Whispering Woods. Adora will sneak out tonight after hours, around 3:00. Follow her, and you will begin to have a greater understanding of what is going on. Now, I must depart. Leave the crystal ball in this room for now. When the time is right, you will retrieve it again. For now, Adora, Catra, and Glimmer are depending on you. You will do great things, Brittni, remember that." _The voice said. Brittni stared at the crystal ball, almost angrily.

"What did you say? Glimmer?! The Princess that nearly killed Dragstor and most likely crippled him for life?!" Brittni demanded, irritably.

"_That Princess will become a major threat to both the Horde and the Rebellion. You can help prevent that. Please forgive me, I have said too much regarding her. For now, think about tonight. I will reveal more, soon. Don't worry, Brittni, you will do great things. I have to go now, but I will contact you again. Good luck." _As the voice ended its speaking, the glow faded away. Brittni's mouth was slightly agape, and she bit her lower lip. Her hands were shaking the crystal ball as she pondered everything that had just been revealed to her. She gently placed the crystal ball back, as well as the rest of the items she had taken out, then sat down on the floor, holding her knees to her head. She took a deep sigh and spoke out loud to herself.

"Glimmer… Why should I do anything for that… that…" Brittni began before rebuking herself, "oh, forget it, I need to focus on tonight." Brittni took a deep breath, "okay… Creepy crystal ball is actually some lady that somehow can see the future and project her voice onto an inanimate object." Brittni said to herself, pondering the craziness. Regardless of all this, she knew she had to get back home. She made her way back to the end of the monumental room where she had entered. Once she arrived at the opening, she inserted the key into the air, causing the magical door to appear. She opened the door, walked through, then reinserted the key, letting the door dissipate into the air. She turned around and was about to begin walking when she saw the door from the residence, opposite the Monumental Room open up. It was dark, so Brittni couldn't make out the figure, but the figure saw her.

"Hey! Stop right there!" the figure yelled, right before Brittni saw a burgundy-red, well-honed barb, was being plunged at her. Brittni rolled forward, dodging the barb. She looked back at the barb and realized what it was…

… A scorpion stinger…

**Gasp! Who could it be?! I apologize for the short chapter. I have had a myriad of tasks to do this week. I promise that the action is going to pick up, and the morality is going to get very ambiguous. For what it's worth, I hope that y'all enjoyed the chapter. Much love! :)**


	14. Chapter 14: A Night to Change All (P1)

Chapter 14: The Night to Change All (Part 1)

Brittni was crouched down, and stared, her lip quivering at the scorpion stinger that nearly hit her head. She switched her gaze at the source of the stinger. As the tail slowly retracted back to its host, the source slowly stepped into the light. And at that moment, Brittni realized whom it was: Force Captain Scorpia. Scorpia was a human-scorpion hybrid. The human parts of her included her fade haircut that rested upon a human head, her torso, and her legs. She had no hands, but instead what would have been hands were replaced with claws. These claws were often the butt of many jokes, since it was hard for Scorpia to grasp things. Her stinger needed no introduction, but it was something to be admired. The stinger was a quick, medium range attack that would exude a venom that would completely incapacitate an opponent. Scopria wore a burgundy-red sleeveless shirt. She had pauldrons that were made from the red carapace that covered the scorpion parts of her body. Scorpia was some kind of an anomaly in the Fright Zone. Whereas the majority of all the soldiers were gruff, decorous, and stern, Scorpia was bumbly, affectionate, and rather kind. However, she was not to be underestimated. When it came to those that would be marked as one of her enemies; especially those whom would try to harm her friends, Scorpia was merciless. When Scorpia stepped forward and got a good look at Brittni. She put her claws to her mouth and gasped. She pointed with her right claw at Brittni as she analyzed her up and down. Because of the crouched position, and Brittni's all black outfit; especially the mask, Scorpia came to one conclusion.

"A ninja! Oh, I knew this day would come! Everybody said, 'Oh, Scorpia, you're being ridiculous, a ninja will never make it into the Fright Zone!' Well, what do we call this?!" Scorpia said, her gaze being taken off Brittni and seemingly going towards space as she continued to ramble on. Brittni cocked her eyebrow and started slowly creeping towards the wall that was to the left of the magic door, hoping to sneak out while Scorpia was distracted by her own monologue. The trick didn't work, however. Scorpia gasped as she turned her head to Brittni again. Scorpia then thrusted her stinger again, just barely missing Brittni's head.

"Whoa! Hey!" Brittni yelled as she was dodging the scorpion stinger being thrusted at her multiple times. One thrust was aimed at her head. Duck. The next aimed at her torso. Pivot to the right. The last, aimed at her feet. Jump.

"Scorpia! Stop!" Brittni yelled while waving her hands in the air, in protest. Scorpia gasped.

"Oh, no… The ninja knows my name! How do you know so much?!" Scorpia demanded, frantically. Brittni groaned then pulled down her mask.

"It's me, you overgrown hottentotta tamulus!" Brittni yelled before diving to dodge another tail swipe.

"Nobody calls me a hot... Hotten... W-Whatever you said!- wait." Scorpion started, before retracting her tail and taking a closer look, "Brittni, is that you?" Scorpia asked, sheepishly.

"Yes! That's what I was trying to tell you-ack!" Brittni started before being interrupted by Scorpia's world famous hug. Scorpia wrapped her claws around Brittni and picked her up. Being a foot and a half taller than Brittni, this was rather high for Brittni to be off the ground. Brittni squirmed against Scorpia's embrace while she nuzzled Brittni's neck.

"Oh, Brittni, thank goodness it's just you! I would've felt just absolutely awful if I actually stung you!" Scorpia said, all bubbly. Brittni started coughing.

"Scorpia… could you… please… put me down…" Brittni wheezed out from being held too closely. Scorpia gasped.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Brittni." Scorpia said, sincerely, gently putting Brittni down. Brittni started gasping for air and lightly patting her chest.

"It's okay… thank you…" Brittni coughed out. Scorpia put her claws on her hips and looked at Brittni with concern.

"So, what are you doing out at this hour? And why are you dressed as a ninja?" Scorpia inquired. Brittni knew how incredibly gullible Scorpia was, so she very quickly thought of an excuse for her being there.

"Oh! Uh, well, Brett just got promoted to Infiltration Saboteur, and… well, I'm kinda trying out for that position! Yeah! And, uh, the way to do it is for me to sneak around the most highly secure location in all of Etheria! The Fright Zone!" Brittni said, quickly. Scorpia put her claw up to her mouth and eyed Brittni, suspiciously. Brittni then continued, "but, I guess it looks like you caught me. Darn, I guess you're just too perceptive for me. I'll have to work harder at this." Brittni finished, putting her mouth into a frown and batting her eyelashes at Scorpia. Scorpia narrowed her eyes at Brittni and slowly moved her head forward, about a foot from Brittni's face. Brittni started sweating and gave a light, nervous chuckle. Scorpia then smiled.

"Well, gosh, that's okay! I mean, pfft. I am quite perceptive. I mean, nothing gets passed me!" Scorpia said proudly as she got into a boxing stance and started shadow punching. Scorpia then stopped and put her claw, gently on Brittni's shoulder, "oh, don't you worry, you'll make it one day. I mean, it took me forever to make Force Captain. They said something about me being too naive and too gullible. Well, I've shown them a thing or two tonight, huh!?" Scorpia finished, with a grin. Brittni forced a smile.

"Uh… heh, heh, you betcha, Scorpia. Uh, anyway, I think that's enough training tonight. I'm gonna head to bed now. Thanks, good night!" Brittni said, briskly, before walking away rather quickly.

"Hey, if you see Catra, give her a big hug for me!" Scorpia said, jubilantly. Brittni gave her a thumbs up, then pulled her mask back on.

"Oh, I will." Brittni muttered, cryptically, "sooner than you think…" Brittni muttered, almost prophetically. She headed back towards her quarters, plucking the pictures off of every security camera on her way. She hugged the walls in order to stay out of the camera's sight. As she plucked the picture off the last camera and stuffed it into her bag, she let out a deep sigh of relief. She continued to hug the wall until she was certain she was out of sight. When she arrived at the four way, hallway intersection, Brittni looked around. Seemingly finding nobody around, she pumped her fists in the sky and quietly giddied herself.

"Yessss!" Brittni squealed. She danced around in place for a few moments with her eyes closed. When she opened her eyes, her heart sank.

"Boo." Brett uttered, facetiously, a foot away from her face.

"AH!" Brittni screamed as she fell on her bottom. Brett started laughing, holding his stomach.

"Oh, man, that was way too easy." Brett said, continuing his laugh. Brittni narrowed her eyes at Brett and growled. Brett slowed his laugh and held out his hand, "c'mon, I'm sorry."

"Hmph. I don't get it, how could I not have noticed you?!" Brittni objected, but still accepted his hand, pulling her up. Once she was up, Brett got a full look at her.

"Oh, please, I saw your little dance a mile away. You always close your eyes when you do that, so I knew you wouldn't see me coming." Brett said, grinning. Brittni blinked at him a couple of times then groaned. Brett continued, "so, what's with the ninja look?" Brett inquired, folding his arms. Brittni scoffed, trying to hide her nervousness. Brett cocked his eyebrow then narrowed his eyes, peering into Brittni's eyes, raising her anxiety.

"Er… Ah…" Brittni tried to sputter out. She then groaned heavily, "Ugh! I hate that you know me so well!" Brittni snapped, pointing at Brett. Brett chuckled.

"We're the Observation Twins and I grew up with you. That's two factors working against you, sis." Brett said, grinning. Brittni chuckled along with Brett. She then looked around.

"Look, let's get back to our quarters and I'll… I'll tell you everything." Brittni whispered. Brett nodded and they headed to their quarters. Once inside, Brittni sat down on the couch, taking her mask off. Brett sat opposite of her.

"Okay, so spill it, what's with the whole ninja get up? And sneaking out after dark?" Brett whistled, impressed, "that's something I never thought I'd see; you breaking the rules." Brett then leaned back in the chair, hands behind his head. Brittni, on the other hand was on the edge of the couch. Brett took notice.

"Well, you're tense, so this must be something pretty big." Brett deduced as he lounged in the chair. Brittni took a deep breath.

"Okay, this is gonna sound about as, or maybe even more crazy than our experience at the castle." Brittni said, distantly and looking away. Brett's interest piqued. He folded his hands and rested his chin upon them, giving Brittni his full attention. Brittni turned her head back towards Brett and gave the full account of everything regarding the crystal ball, including going into the Monumental Room, twice. After she had gotten done explaining everything, the room was quiet for what seemed like an eternity. Brett sat straight up in the chair, his arms resting on the rests, his eyes gazing at the wall to the right. He was definitely thinking deeply. Brittni was rubbing her knees forward and backwards, trying to keep her anxiety in check. Brett stood up and walked over towards the window, staring out at the darkness on the outside. Brittni didn't want to interrupt his thoughts, but she was about to explode. Finally, as though recognizing that Brittni couldn't take the silence anymore, Brett spoke.

"So…" Brett began as he turned around towards Brittni, "that… crystal thing told you that something major was going to happen tonight? Brittni nodded, almost a little too rapidly. Brett paced around near the window, holding one arm behind his back and the other to his chin. He stopped his pace, "how do you know you can trust this thing?" Brittni shook her head.

"Honestly… I don't exactly know." Brittni said looking down. She then looked back up at Brett, "but, this thing seems to know me, somehow. I dunno… I can almost… like, feel the truth. I kind of just want to give it a chance. If it's wrong, I lose nothing, if it's right… well, it said that a big change was going to happen to the Horde…" Brett scoffed, then sat back down on the chair.

"I'll be honest, Brittni. I do not trust this little crystal ball at all. For that matter, anything that has to do with magic is evil. I don't think it's a good idea for you to go. This very well could be a trap." Brett cautioned. Brittni leaned back in her chair, a little disappointed, but unsurprised in Brett's response.

"But, Brett, this is Adora and Catra. Adora's the most loyal Horde soldier in all of the Fright Zone. And Catra… well, she's nice when Adora's around, anyway." Brittni said. Brett leaned back in the chair with his arms folded and exhaled a loud groan.

"Look, you're your own person. I'm not going to try to stop you… I guess I just want you to be sure about this whole thing before you do anything." Brett cautioned. Brittni sat up in the chair and looked at Brett, intently.

"Brett, there's something major that's going to happen, and I want to know what that is. I know that crystal ball reached out to me for a reason. If I have a chance to prevent something bad happening to all of us, I'm going to take that chance." Brittni said, confidently. Brett looked at Brittni for a moment then sighed, putting his head down and folding his hands.

"Alright, go fulfill your little prophecy." Brett said, sarcastically, "I, on the other hand am exhausted from today." He mentioned as he let out a yawn. Brittni went over and sat down on the right arm of the couch, and put her left hand on Brett's right shoulder.

"I know you don't approve, but I… I have to do this." Brittni said, looking at Brett, with conviction. Brett moved his eyes to Brittni without moving his head, then looked forward again.

"I trust you, Brittni. You haven't let me down yet. If this is how you really feel, then go ahead. Who knows? Maybe you're right. But uh... I'm gonna head to bed, though." Brett said, reassuringly. Brittni cracked a slight smile and wrapped her arms around Brett. He chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, alright, you love me, whatever." Brett said, sarcastically and chuckling. Brittni leaned over and kissed Brett on the cheek, "blegh! Okay, I'm _really _going to bed now." Brett then wriggled out of Brittni's hug and stood up, walking towards the bedroom. Brittni fell into the chair, giggling. Brett did his evening routine, brushing his teeth and changing into more comfortable clothing, then went back into the front room. Brittni was knelt down on the floor packing some supplies into her bag. Brett walked over to Brittni and knelt down next to her

"Brittni…" Brett started. She looked up at him and he continued, "if something really does go down, I want you to have this." Brett said as he handed her a radio, "if you need me, give a ring, and I'll be there." Brittni smiled.

"Thanks, Brett. I will." Brittni said, gratefully. Brett smiled as well, then pulled out a long baton from the back of his pants, then handed it to her. Brittni eyed it, admirably, but was still shocked, "Brett… we're not supposed to have weapons unless-" She started before being interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, you follow the rules as if your life depended on it. Look, this is among the mildest weapons I keep in my arsenal. Not only is it a personal defense weapon, you can also use it to confuse the robot patrols, buying you a minute or so." Brett said, winking. Brittni blinked a few times.

"You've been stashing weapons?!" Brittni inquired, dismayed.

"You don't?" Brett asked, winking and chuckling a bit. Brittni started laughing.

"Okay, well, thanks… I'll use it if I need it." Brittni said, stuffing it into her bag. Brett stood up and laughed.

"Ha! There's never a wrong time to have a weapon. Now, with the bots, they only have sight scanners, meaning that if you hide in the shadows well enough, they won't be able to make out your figure." Brett advised. Brittni nodded.

"Thanks Brett, that actually helps a lot." Brittni said, gratefully. Brett then began stretching.

"Anyway, kiddo, I'm going to bed. Good luck on your little adventure." Brett said. Brittni narrowed her eyes at Brett.

"Kiddo? We're twins!" Brittni protested. Brett started walking away then looked back.

"I'm older by a minute." Brett said, giggling. Brittni's mouth went agape, and she stammered her next sentence.

"Older by- What? How can you- Ugh, forget it." Brittni said as Brett continued to laugh. Brittni then stood up and slung the bag over her shoulder. Brett turned his whole body towards Brittni again, and gave her a more serious look.

"Brittni… Be careful." He said, with concern. Brittni looked at him and observed the true concern on his face. Her mouth was slightly agape, but no words came out. The two stared at each other for a few moments. Brittni then nodded.

"I will. Thanks, Brett." Brittni said. She then walked over to the front door, opened it and walked out. Brett leaned against the wall and sighed.

"Be safe, sis." He muttered, as he walked to the bedroom and headed to bed.

Brittni snuck around the Fright Zone feeling exposed from her all black get-up and mask. Nevertheless, thanks to her observation skills, she was easily able to move passed any guards assigned. She saw Jenson at one point, and waved at him. When he saw her, he immediately turned 180°, moving the other way. She smirked upon seeing him avoiding her. Aside from Jenson, This area was completely patrolled by robots. The tiles on the floor indicated where something was located, based on the color. She walked down the green floor which lead to the barracks. Taking the green path and avoiding the bots by hiding behind wall corners and other doodads in the hallways, she found herself in a corridor that lead to the barracks where Adora and her squad slept. She noticed that the door to their room was open.

"_Doors are to be shut during night hours…" _Brittni thought to herself. Curious, she decided to investigate. She hugged the wall, trying to stay in the dark. There were light fixtures, but to save energy, they were dimmed and spaced out during the night hours. Creeping towards the door, she stuck her head inside and scanned the area. To the right, on a top bunk, laid Kyle with one leg hanging off the bed. His snore sounded like a chainsaw chewing through a tree. Below him was Rogelio, the lizard man, curled up, literally, into a ball. Moving her eyes to the left, Brittni saw that Catra was missing from her top bunk.

"_Heh, she's probably sleeping with Adora-" _Brittni started thinking until her eyes moved down. To her astonishment, neither Adora, nor Catra were in that bed. This made Brittni a little worried,

"_Okay… So the crystal ball was telling the truth." _Brittni thought to herself, astonished. She then wondered where they could be, _"Adora would never break the rules… I mean, Adora was wrapped around Shadow Weaver's fingers… but she's more wrapped around Catra's. Catra must have convinced them to sneak out." _Brittni concluded in her thoughts. Knowing that the crystal ball actually had given Brittni the correct information, she was convinced that she had to find Adora and Catra. Increasing her stride in finding them, Brittni went to observe all the locations that Adora and Catra would usually tuck away to. She checked the railing overhang, nothing. She checked the locker room, zilch. She even checked a janitor's closet, with nothing to be found but cleaning supplies. Brittni groaned, quietly. She pulled the mask down to breathe a little easier.

"_Where could they be? And why couldn't that stupid crystal ball be a LITTLE more specific?!" _Brittni began thinking before being interrupted by footsteps. She quietly gasped and looked around for somewhere to hide. The footsteps sounded very close, so with quick thinking, Brittni put her arms up on one wall, and her legs on the opposite wall, and used all four limbs to climb up, hoping that the footsteps coming wouldn't look up. Doing all that climbing put a strain on Brittni, as she started sweating. She tried to stifle her grunting and breathing. Once atop, she quickly unscrewed a lightbulb, diminishing the light. The footsteps got closer and closer, until the figure came into view. She couldn't get a good view from the darkness, and their vocal frequencies were too stifled to know who they were. As the figure walked by, Brittni held her breath. However, she began feeling a tickling feeling falling down her hair towards her nose. It was a sweat drop.

"_Oh, no, oh, no…" _Brittni protested in her mind. The drop of sweat didn't listen, however, and fell, as if in slow motion, onto the head of the figure. Brittni's eyes widened as if she were about to be killed. The head that Brittni's sweat hit jerked towards her and hissed. In one swift motion, the figure jumped up, grabbed Brittni's torso, and pulled her down. Brittni fell on her hands and knees and winced at the pain. Before Brittni could react, the figure grabbed her. Brittni was about to scream, when she felt a partially furry hand clamp on her mouth. She was then pushed against a wall. It was then, Brittni finally realized who the figure was: Catra

"Shhh! You wanna wake up the entire Fright Zone?!" Catra demanded of Brittni. Although Catra was attempting to stifle her own words, they still came out rather loud. Brittni glared at Catra, and pulled Catra's hand away from her mouth.

"Whoa, hold on a minute. You're the one that hissed at me and slammed me against a wall!" Brittni accused, also trying to stifle her yelling. Catra took her hands off Brittni, stood back, folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at Brittni.

"What are you doing up?" Catra demanded, looking Brittni up and down, then added, "and why are you dressed as a ninja?" Brittni scoffed.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Brittni snapped, then quickly added, "n-not the ninja thing… just the... oh, you know what I mean!" Catra grinned and narrowed her eyes.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were sneaking out." Catra accused, chuckling. Brittni opened her mouth for a moment, but no words came out, just a slight breath.

"Just… Look, was Adora with you?" Brittni inquired. Catra's narrow eyes suddenly became wide open, and she looked away.

"I mean, probably at the barracks." Catra said, unconvincingly. Brittni took a couple steps towards Catra and put her hands on her shoulders. Catra looked back at Brittni, glared, and let out a slight hiss.

"Catra, listen to me, if you know where Adora is, you need to tell me." Brittni said, desperately. Catra pushed Brittni's hands off.

"I told you! She's probably asleep in the barracks!" Catra said as she started walking away.

"Catra, wait! She's not! Please, tell me!" Brittni protested before hearing a whirring electronic noise coming from the corridor that Catra was walking towards. Catra and Brittni let out gasps. Before they could react, the bot spotted the two. It was about to sound an alarm before Brittni quickly pulled out the shock baton and fired a jolt of electricity at the bot, stunning it. The electrical current surged over the bot, causing it to fall over and shut down. Catra looked back at Brittni, mouth agape.

"I'm out of here! That thing's gonna call for backup!" Catra then got on all fours and ran down the corridor back to the barracks.

"Catra! Ergh…" Brittni groaned. She didn't have time to wait around, though. She put the baton back in her bag and started running the opposite way that Catra went. Brittni looked down and noticed that the tiles were blue. That indicated that Brittni was heading towards the vehicle docking area, as well as the exit of the complex she was in. Brittni continued running, thankfully not seeing any robot patrols. She found the door to the vehicle docking area, and opened the door. Creeping in, she hid behind a couple of barrels to catch her breath. The docking area was a wide open, warehouse-looking alcove that held the majority of the Horde's skiffs and tanks. It was mostly dark in the room, but she was able to see that all the skiffs that were lined up in rows. Since this was the area that was closest to the barracks, Brittni decided to take a quick look around. There were no signs of life, just a bot or two roaming around. They were easy to avoid, thanks to the overall darkness of the place. After searching behind and around each skiff, Brittni let out a big sigh.

"_Where in the heck could Adora be?" _Brittni thought to herself. She leaned against a skiff, and it slightly moved. Brittni let out a little yelp and jumped back. She took a look around the skiff.

"_Skiffs are supposed to be locked down… and based on the heat radiating from this skiff, it was used recently." _Brittni also noticed some minor scrapes on the skiff. Peering closer, she noticed that it wasn't metal but wood that scraped it.Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Brittni's head, _"Catra and Adora must have jacked this skiff and gone into the Whispering Woods!" _Brittni thought, excitedly. Then, she thought about it more, _"but… why would Adora go back after coming home? Well, whatever the case, I need to go find her!" _Brittni concluded. She made her way out of the vehicle dock and towards the doorway that lead out of the Fright Zone. Although she wanted to go get her armor, there was no time. She raced to the doorway and opened the doors. She then took a step out and beheld the scenery.

"Geez, has the Fright Zone always looked this depressing?" Brittni muttered to herself. She then shook her head, "gotta stay focused." She started running out of the Fright Zone and towards the Whispering Woods. When she had made it to the opening of the Whispering Woods, she looked back. She felt naked without her armor, alone without her squad, and afraid without Brett. Nevertheless, she stiffened her upper lip, narrowed her eyes at the Whispering Woods, and walked confidently into it.

**Hey, everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I actually really loved writing the part that had Scorpia in it. I'm pretty sure from here on out, there's going to be nothing but interactions with canon characters. I know it took 14 chapters, but here we are. Thanks for reading! :)**


	15. Chapter 15: A Night to Change all (P2)

Chapter 15: A Night to Change All (Part 2)

_Before Adora and Brittni had entered into the Whispering Woods, a certain duo had also entered the woods with the intention of finding First One's Technology…_

"Ugh, Bow! We've been traveling for hours. Where are we?!" Glimmer groaned as she trudged on alongside Bow, with her arms folded, and her eyes narrowed. Her companion, Bow was lightly tapping on his trackerpad, trying to get it to function correctly. Bow was a dark skinned, well muscled, young man that served as a master archery marksman for the Rebellion. His apparel consisted of blue pants, white boots with a gold trim, a golden pauldron on his left shoulder, and a white crop top with a golden v-shaped chest plate that exposed his midriff. Emblazoned on his top and boots was a heart, which was his family's crest. He sported a dark brown faded haircut, and wielded a collapsible, compound bow; (hence the name,) with an arsenal of trick arrows. These arrows served various functions from lethal and non-lethal attacks, explosions, nets for incapacitation, ropes for climbing, and electrified ones to nullify robots. His trick arrows made him an incredibly skillful and versatile fighter of the Rebellion.

"Sorry, Glimmer. I don't know what's going on with this thing. It's getting major interference. Last I checked, we were going the right way, though." Bow replied, not completely sure of himself. Glimmer groaned again. The two were silent as they walked along. Glimmer still had a scowl on her face. Bow looked at her with concern as he knew that Glimmer wasn't usually this irritable.

"Glimmer, are you okay?" Bow attempted to pry.

"I'm fine, Bow." Glimmer answered, quickly and snappy. Bow was taken aback by her snappiness and reacted accordingly, raising his head and looking away. After a few moments Glimmer stopped and sat atop a fallen over log, putting her chin in her hands and letting out a big sigh. Bow slowly followed Glimmer and sat down beside her. He didn't say anything, wanting to let her speak when she was ready. After a few minutes, she finally broke the silence.

"I'm sorry, Bow… The siege of Elberon was a total failure. I mean, yeah, we did manage to thin the Horde quite a bit, but we lost a good amount of our own…" Glimmer said, quietly with a lowered head. She then raised her voice a bit, and raised her head up, "and they still took the Mayor and captured Elberon!" Glimmer yelled, starting to cry. Bow wrapped his arms around Glimmer and pulled her close, letting her cry into his chest.

"It's okay, Glimmer. You did your best." Bow said, reassuredly. Glimmer wiped her eyes and pulled away from Bow's embrace.

"Well, what if my best isn't good enough, Bow?" Glimmer said, standing up. She paced around in front of him and continued, "I did do my best, and the Horde still won. What does that say about me?" Glimmer said as she stopped and eyed Bow with a look of desperation.

"Glimmer, you're still learning to fully control your powers. You need to give yourself time. Besides, it's not like that battle was completely up to you. You can't blame yourself." Bow said, reassuringly.

"But we had the advantage, Bow! We knew they were coming. We prepared. We still lost… I have to…" Glimmer said, pausing for a few moments. Her voice got lower, "I need to get stronger. I need more power." Bow was getting rather uncomfortable with everything that Glimmer was saying. He stood up, walked over to Glimmer and put his hands on her shoulders. They both gazed into one another's eyes.

"Glimmer…" Bow started, sympathetically, "I don't know exactly what you went through at Elberon, but you need to take it easy. I know that it's hard. There have been situations I've been in where I couldn't help, no matter what I did. That's just what happens, sometimes. But that's how we learn, that's how we get better and stronger. Just give yourself time. I know how powerful you are now, and I can only see your powers getting even more strong." Bow said confidently with a smile. Bow's words touched Glimmer. Her scowl slowly curved into a smile. She took a deep breath and let all of her anxiety out.

"Thank you, Bow…" Glimmer said, gratefully. They then both hugged. When they pulled away from the embrace, Glimmer continued, "okay, let's go find that First One's Tech!" Bow grinned.

"Yeah! Best Friend's Duo!" Bow said, pumping a fist into the sky. Glimmer walked passed him.

"Yeah, we're not calling ourselves that." Glimmer said, callously. Bow chuckled, and they were both off.

_Meanwhile, Brittni begins her sojourn to find Adora in the Whispering Woods..._

Before taking her first step into the Whispering Woods, a wave of anxiety engulfed Brittni. So many thoughts pervaded her thoughts. What if Hordak finds out? What creatures dwelled in the Whispering Woods? Is this some kind of an ambush? All these thoughts caused her to hesitate. She took one step into the woods, but quickly pulled back, causing her to groan. She put her hands on her head and shook it. She took a deep breath, and gave herself an audible peptalk.

"Okay, Brittni. You can do this. You've been through the Whispering Woods before. ...Of course, you also had over eighty other soldiers, and several tanks backing you up. And it wasn't in the middle of the night. And you weren't directed here by some disembodied voice." Brittni shook her head, waved her arms out in front, and rebuked herself, "wait, okay, that's not very inspiring… Let's try this again. Okay, you were directed here by some disembodied voice. But that voice knows something. How could it have known that Adora was out here, otherwise? Yeah, I'm doing the right thing, I have to be." Brittni said, gaining more confidence, "and, yeah! I'm one of the Observation Twins. I have a greater advantage than anyone else in the Fright Zone! Yeah!" And with that, Brittni ran into the Whispering Woods, with borrowed confidence. As Brittni ran in, she took a look around, admiring the landscape. She realized how the simulations that she had participated in at the Fright Zone didn't quite capture the majesty of this mystical forest. The grass was a cyan green, the trees exhibited purple bark. The overall aura of the forest was rather calming; especially considering the anxiety that Brittni had felt about even entering the forest. As she walked through, she continued to observe all of the surroundings. Even though it was night, the forest seemed to emanate some kind of resplendence that helped Brittni notice every feature of the forest, perfectly There were oversized fruits, and a variety of vegetation that Brittni had never seen before.

"What is this place… It's so… amazing." Brittni said to herself as she passed through. She stopped at a particular plant and knelt down to pluck it. It looked like an oversized, purple blueberry.

"So… a purpleberry?" Brittni asked no one in particular as she chuckled at her own joke, "man, I bet there are a lot of natural remedies I can make from the vegetation here… but, I need to focus on finding Adora. Brittni took a bite of the purpleberry, enjoying its juicy taste. As she munched on the fruit she continued walking, she started hearing a distant, faint voice. She shuddered, pulled out the shock baton from her bag, and brandished it in front of her. Cautiously, Brittni started walking towards the voice, it slowly becoming more audible.

_"Brittni…" _Brittni shuddered upon hearing yet another disembodied voice call out to her. She moved closer, hearing it more clearly, _"Brittni… please help us, Brittni." _Brittni stopped dead in her tracks. She looked around but all she could see was the trees and bushes rustling from the wind.

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Brittni demanded, charging up the shock baton to be ready to fire.

_"Brittni, why are you staying with the Horde…? Why…?" _the voice seemed to inquire.

"What are you talking about? Why am I staying with the Horde?! Because the Horde is doing the right thing!" Brittni yelled. She then put her free hand to her head and groaned, "wait, why am I even arguing with you?! Who are you?!"

_"You argue because deep down you're confused… You don't know what's right and wrong…" _the voice accused.

"Shut up! That's not true! The Horde is my family, my home!" Brittni snapped, still looking around for the source of the voice.

_"Is that why you asked why the Horde and Rebellion are fighting...?" _the voice challenged. Brittni shut her eyes and started growling.

"How did-? No, shut up!" Brittni yelled, seemingly losing strength as she fell to her knees.

_"Don't deny your feelings, Brittni... You will have to face the truth, one way or another..." _The voice said, sounding more ferocious. Brittni gave an angry vociferation in reply.

"Grrr…I said shut up!" Brittni yelled as she fired the energy blast function on the baton. The green energy flew from the baton at a tree about 12 feet away, blowing a hole in it. The tree splintered. Most of the bark that was splintered became scorched with glowing green plasma.

"Whoa, hey!" A voice, familiar to Brittni shouted in protest. Brittni opened her eyes and saw that the voice was Adora. Adora had dove away from Brittni's energy blast. She was on her stomach, looking up at Brittni, wide-eyed and alarmed at Brittni's actions. Adora looked Brittni up and down, "what the heck is a ninja doing here in the Whispering Woods? Are you a rebel soldier?!" Brittni's eyes grew in surprise, then narrowed upon hearing Adora's inquiry.

"Ugh! Enough with the ninja!" Brittni said, annoyed. She then pulled down her mask, revealing her face to Adora. Adora squinted her eyes to get a better look.

"...Brittni? Is that you?" Adora asked as she picked herself up and walked towards Brittni. She wrapped Brittni in a hug. Brittni smiled, embracing Adora with great force. Brittni felt relieved and comforted at both finding Adora and being around a familiar face in general. Adora was surprised but welcoming towards the tight embrace Brittni was giving her. They both broke away. Adora put her hands on her hips.

"Brittni… I'm happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" Adora asked, her tone becoming more serious. Brittni cocked her eyebrow.

"You know, I could ask the same of you." Brittni replied. Adora's mouth opened, but she said nothing, just letting a breath of air out.

"Okay, you got me there… there's just something I have to do here." Adora said, looking towards the ground and rubbing her left shoulder with her right hand, "I'll explain, but I really want to know why you're here." Adora said, looking intently at Brittni. Brittni gazed back and started walking towards a small boulder.

"Would you believe that this is actually where I'm supposed to be?" Brittni asked, distantly as she sat upon the boulder, turning her gaze towards Brittni. Adora tilted her head and folded her arms.

"What do you mean?" Adora inquired. Brittni sighed.

"This is a long story, you might want to sit down." Brittni suggested. Adora nodded and walked over to Brittni, taking a seat beside her, and turning towards her. Brittni sighed.

"You know, I've told this story twice, and it never becomes any more believable…" Brittni started. Adora put her hand on Brittni's shoulder and smiled. Brittni put her hand on Adora's hand and smiled back, "okay, in a nutshell, this is what happened…" Brittni went on to give a brief overview of her experience with the crystal ball. Brittni gave details regarding the photo album, the Monumental Room, and what the crystal ball told Brittni about this night. Adora's eyes became widened, and her mouth was slightly agape. For quite a few moments after Brittni ended her speaking, neither girls said anything. Brittni looked away from Adora.

"If you don't believe me, I-" Brittni began before Adora interrupted her.

"I believe you, Brittni." Adora said, confidently. Brittni raised her head up and looked at Adora with boosted confidence. Adora continued, "I believe you because there is a reason I'm her… You see, earlier today, Catra and I… well, we 'borrowed' a skif." Adora said, while rubbing the back of her neck. Brittni's eyes shone in amazement.

"Adora… you… I mean, YOU stole something? I feel like I need to write this down…" Brittni said, chuckling.

"Yeah, I know, I didn't even know I had it in me. I figured it was a good way to comfort Catra." Adora said, joining in the chuckle. Hearing Catra's name alarmed Brittni, which reminded her of what the crystal ball said about Catra. Quickly, Brittni interjected.

"Wait, Adora. You said something about comforting Catra. What was she upset about?" Brittni inquired. Adora eyed Brittni in surprise.

"Well… they told us about the invasion of Thaymore, and I was promoted to Force Captain. But Shadow Weaver told me I couldn't take my team. I'm not sure if Catra was jealous about the promotion or not being able to join me at Thaymore… I don't know. Why do you ask?"

"I ask because the crystal ball told me that I needed to watch over you and Catra." Brittni said. Adora blinked her eyes a couple of times.

"Watch over us? Catra and I are fine. She's the fastest, strongest, most tenacious soldier the Horde has to offer… and I've just become Force Captain." Adora said, confidently.

"Oh, I know. It's just… the crystal ball has been right about everything so far. But, anyway, go ahead." Brittni said, shoving that thought out of her head. Adora nodded and continued.

"So anyway, we were flying the skif and started fighting over who got to drive it. In the middle of driving it. So… we kinda…"

"Crashed." Brittni finished Adora's statement, while winking, "I saw the damaged skif in the vehicle bay." Adora eyed Britni with astonishment.

"Okay, you really live up to the title, 'Observation Twin'." Adora said, chuckling. Brittni grinned. Adora continued, "so, after we crashed, I got separated from Catra. I was looking for her and I saw this… this sword. It was shining. But, I mean, not just shining, it was like-" Brittni interrupted.

"An effulgent, radiant glow?" Brittni chuckled, then added, "what, did it speak to you, too?" Brittni joked. But Adora was not joking. Adora looked at Brittni as though her hair was on fire. Brittni returned the surprised gaze. Adora shuddered a bit then spoke.

"How did you know that it talked?" Adora inquired. Brittni looked at Adora intently.

"The same thing happened to me with the crystal ball…" Brittni said, methodically, looking away for a moment then turning back to Adora, "this has to be related." Adora nodded.

"Well, let's go find that sword. Maybe your little crystal ball thing is the one speaking from the sword." Adora suggested, as she stood up from the boulder. Brittni nodded, and got up as well. The duo made their way deeper into the forest. Adora lead the way, trying to retrace her steps. After a little while they both became frustrated.

"I swear that we were going the right way…" Adora muttered with an annoyed expression. Brittni looked around, analyzing the surroundings. That tree with the vine crawling up it, that bush with four purpleberries, those blades of grass that are pointing to the West. They had passed through this before...

"Adora, I don't know how, but we've walked through this same trail at least three times…" Brittni muttered, gazing analytically at the flora surrounding them. Adora turned back to Brittni.

"You're sure?" Adora inquired. Brittni nodded her head, assuredly.

"Don't forget who you're talking to." Brittni said with a wink. Adora scratched the back of her head.

"Right, I know... I just... this place is so weird. Where the heck are we-" Adora began saying before she and Brittni heard a voice. Adora and Brittni looked at each other then towards the voice. They both crouched down and began creeping towards it. Combing through brush and shrubbery, they began seeing a shimmer of light emitting through the gaps of the trees and vegetation. Creeping closer, the two found themselves on the edge of a big open space in the woods. In the middle of the open space, entangled by vines was what Adora had been looking for: The Sword. Adora was about to make a move towards it but was stopped by Brittni grabbing her shoulder. Adora looked back at Brittni.

"Brittni, what're you-" Adora started before being shushed by Brittni.

"Shhh… I hear someone." Brittni cautioned. The two listened. The voices they were hearing slowly became more audible.

"Bow, just let me lead the way, okay?" A very familiar voice to Brittni said. Brittni's heart sank as she heard the voice. She didn't want to believe it, but she knew whom that voice belonged to.

"The light came from the edge of the forest." Another, more masculine voice said that Brittni didn't recognize.

"Yes, you saw the light. It's this way!" That familiar voice said. Brittni was ninety nine percent sure she knew exactly whom it was, and her anxiety began raising up all the way to her forehead.

"The trackpad says otherwise." The masculine voice argued.

"It's this way!" The familiar voice snapped. Adora was so stunned by hearing the voices, she had forgotten to go back into the cover of the shrubbery. To the dismay of Brittni, and the surprise of Adora, the source of the voices were revealed. To the far left of the two Horde soldiers walked in two Rebellion soldiers: Glimmer and Bow. The four locked eyes with each other and simultaneously gasped.

"Horde soldiers!" Glimmer shouted

"And one of them's a ninja!" Bow chimed in. The two rebel soldiers then started yelling at the two Horde soldiers. Adora broke the gaze with the two rebels and dashed towards the sword with the speed of a rabbit being chased by a fox.

"Wait! Adora, don't!" Brittni protested, holding her left arm stretched out towards Adora. Adora didn't listen, however, and continued her stride towards the sword. The two rebels made the sword their goal, manifesting the goal with their movement towards it. Brittni already knew what was going to happen. Glimmer teleported to the sword and clutched it. Adora, just a couple feet away shielded her eyes with her arms from the purple luminescence from Glimmer's teleport. Adora quickly got over the brightness and threw herself at Glimmer, only for Glimmer to teleport, with the sword, away. Adora ended up only tackling the ground with an 'Oof!' Glimmer recklessly teleported near Brittni, with her back turned towards her. Brittni took this opportunity to finish what Adora started when Adora attempted to tackle Glimmer. Brittni dove at Glimmer, wrapping her arms around Glimmer's waste and tackling her to the ground.

"Oof! Hey!" Glimmer screamed as the sword flew from her hands.

"Adora! Get the sword!" Brittni yelled to Adora as Glimmer struggled with crawling towards the sword. Adora started picking herself up only for Bow to take a shot at her with one of his arrows. Brittni took notice and gasped.

"Adora! Look out!" Brittni yelled. Adora looked over at Bow as he fired off his arrow. Adora moved a foot away thinking she was avoiding the arrow. Adora gasped, however, when she saw the arrow broke apart, mid-air, and a net launched out of it, encasing Adora once it struck her.

"No! Argh!" Adora shrieked as got caught in the net.

"Adora! Oof! Agh!" Brittni screamed as Glimmer used her heel to kick Brittni. Brittni loosened her grip to hold her own stomach and Glimmer used her heel again to push Brittni off. Glimmer teleported to the sword again and grabbed it. Bow nocked another arrow in his bow, aiming it at Brittni.

"Don't move, ninja! I don't want to hurt you!" Bow said as he steadied his aim. Glimmer also brandished the sword at Adora. Brittni picked herself up and looked closely at the arrow. Suddenly, Brittni received a flashback to the Monumental Room.

"_Ah, That is an explosive arrow. The Rebellion seems to have some kind of master archer that's technologically sound in their ranks." _Brittni remembered Shadow Weaver describing the arrow. Brittni smirked.

"That's an explosive arrow, isn't it?" Brittni shouted at Bow. Bow's countenance changed to complete disorientation, and his pull loosened on his bow.

"How did you..?" Bow uttered in perplexity. Brittni quickly reached behind into her side pack and quickly whipped out the shock baton. Bow took notice and tightened his pull on the bow. Almost simultaneously, both Brittni and Bow fired their weapons. The green ball of energy flew at Bow's arrow, striking it, and causing a massive explosion that was rather close to both Bow and Glimmer. The explosion knocked Bow backwards and Glimmer forwards. As Glimmer fell forwards, the sword she was wielding cut the net that was entangling Adora. Adora started climbing out of the net, struggling as she maneuvered about. Brittni ran over towards Adora, holding her hand out. Adora grabbed Brittni's helping hand, and stood up.

"Wow, great job, Brittni!" Adora said excitedly as she went in to high five Brittni. Brittni slapped Adora's hand. Adora looked over at Bow then inquired, "how did you know that was an explosive arrow?" Brittni scratched the back of her neck.

"It's a long story, but we don't have time. Let's grab the sword and-" Brittni began before being interrupted by a certain purple sparkle.

"And what?" Glimmer said as she picked herself up. Brittni began raising her shock baton at Glimmer until Glimmer began generating a ball of that purple sparkly energy and threw it on the ground causing an explosive flash that blinded Brittni and Adora. Adora was rubbing her eyes and traipsed in place. Brittni did the same but also accidentally fired off the baton's energy blast that struck a tree, causing a branch to break off. The branch ended up falling upon Brittni's head. Brittni immediately lost consciousness, falling backward. Adora's sight came back and she gasped upon seeing Brittni being knocked out.

"Brittni!" Adora screamed. She then looked over at Glimmer who was reaching down to grab the sword. Adora dove at Glimmer while Glimmer's back was turned towards Adora. Adora then turned towards the sword and started crawling towards it. Glimmer got up and grabbed Adora's legs, slowing Adora's movement. Bow then ran at both of them and jumped on top of them. All three of them fought as they crept closer and closer to the sword.

"Get off!" Adora yelled as her hand was inches away from the sword. Exerting all of her effort, Adora reached just enough and touched the sword. Once she did, a flash of blue glimmering light emerged from the sword. The light had some kind of physical force to it, as it knocked Glimmer and Bow back. After a few moments, Bow slowly raised himself up, groaning while holding his head. When he came to, he shook his head and looked over at Adora. What he beheld was beyond astonishing. Adora was being levitated in the air by the beam of light that was radiating from the sword. She seemed to just float weightlessly.

"Uh… Glimmer?" Bow said as he looked over at Glimmer while picking himself up. Glimmer pushed herself up then looked over at Adora and gasped. The two rebels made a circle around Adora to see the front of her. Her eyes were rapidly moving and her mouth was agape.

"What the heck is happening to her?" Glimmer inquired. Bow stood back, cautious of what the sword could potentially do. Glimmer, however, started walking towards it.

"Glimmer, wait!" Bow protested, holding his hand up to try and stop her from moving forward. Glimmer's approach stopped, however, when the sword's light began fading, and Adora's levitation slowly faded. Adora slowly lowered to the ground until she was on her back. Glimmer looked back at Bow who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Quick, Bow, let's tie her up." Glimmer suggested. Bow nodded, pulling rope from his satchel. Brittni groaned as she started lifting herself up and rubbing her head. The two rebels gasped and looked over at Brittni. Brittni shook her head and looked over at Adora laying on her back.

"What did you do to her?!" Brittni demanded as she squared herself up in a battle pose.

"We didn't do anything! Unlike you Horde invaders!" Glimmer snapped.

"We're not invaders, you crazy murderer!" Brittni snapped back, pointing at Glimmer. Glimmer was taken aback and growled.

"The only murderers are Horde soldiers like you and her!" Glimmer yelled. Bow let down the rope and nocked an arrow onto his bow, aiming at Brittni. Brittni pulled out her shock baton.

"You really wanna try this again, arrow boy?" Brittni taunted, igniting the shock baton. Bow fired the arrow. Brittni simply moved out of the way.

"Oh, c'mon! I didn't even need my observation powers to dodge that one!" Brittni said with a cocky tone. Brittni's arrogance got the best of her, however. When the arrow flew passed Brittni, Glimmer teleported behind Brittni and grabbed the arrow, midair, and jabbed it into Brittni's side. Brittni choked out a gasp and looked to the right, seeing Glimmer's face twisted into an evil smile.

"Sweet dreams…" Glimmer said, nefariously. Brittni's eyes slowly closed and she collapsed into Glimmer's arms. Glimmer gently let her down.

"Tranquilizer arrows. Good work, Bow." Glimmer said giving Bow a thumbs up. Bow winked at Glimmer.

"Alright, let's get these two restrained and get them back to Bright Moon…" Glimmer said with a chuckle. Bow picked up the rope and walked towards Adora. Glimmer then muttered silently to herself, "and then we'll see what the Horde will do to get you back…"


	16. Chapter 16: The Vision

Chapter 16: The Vision

"_Kill them all…" _A voice was heard from far away.

"_No! What are you doing?! No! Stop! Noooo!" _Another voice said in reply.

"_You've given me no mercy, and I will return the favor."_ The first voice had replied. Brittni was lying on the ground, dazed, feeling as though she had been bashed in the head with a rock. She lifted her head with the little strength that she had, seeing only blurred images. Brittni coughed a couple times as she started pushing herself up. Her hearing had a ring to it, but slowly, screams that permeated the air began seeping into her ears. Hearing the screams, Brittni lifted her left hand and rubbed her eyes, and used her right hand to push herself up. After rubbing her eyes she looked around. To her utter surprise, and absolute horror she was in a Horde encampment. This encampment was none other than Glenmar. Something was wrong, however. The barracks was on fire, lasers and other energy weapons were flying through the air, Horde soldiers were in a panic, fighting and dying, and an evil cackle pervaded the air. Brittni quickly picked herself up, amidst the chaos. A Horde soldier had just ran passed her screaming.

"Retreat! We can't handle that Princess- AUGH!" The Horde soldier shrieked as a laser fired into his back, causing him to collapse. Brittni's lip quivered, and she shuddered, completely frozen at the sight of this trepidatious situation. Suddenly, Brittni had heard the evil cackle again. She turned her attention to the source of the cackle. About twenty feet away, Brittni saw a figure with a blackish-purple aura, standing atop the wall of Glenmar. The dark figure was holding some kind of sharpened staff. Peering closer, Brittni also saw a Horde soldier on the wall. The soldier was on his back, slowly crawling away from the darkened figure.

"Wait! Stop! Nooo-AGH!" The soldier screamed as the darkened figure plunged its staff into the Horde soldiers chest. The figure then picked the soldier up and tossed the body towards Brittni, blood falling like crimson rain. The body landed about ten feet away from Brittni. The gory scene that played out in front of Brittni caused her to quake and tremble and subsequently, fall backwards. It was then that the darkened figure had taken notice of Brittni. Brittni gasped, loudly. Scrambling to get up, Brittni kicked up dust, and was about to begin running until she heard an almost familiar noise. It sounded somewhat similar to that electronic wind chime noise that would resound whenever Glimmer would appear. However, this sound was more distorted and bassy. No sooner did that noise pierce Brittni's ears, did the dark figure appear right in front of her. Brittni screamed and fell back, holding her hand out for defense. Brittni then peered closer and got a good look at the figure. It was…

Glimmer.

A darkened version of her, anyway. This Glimmer had a fade haircut that was black with purple highlights. She wore black leggings, a sleeveless, dark purple top, a charcoal gray chest plate with pauldrons, dark purple gloves, and a cape that had tapered down rips near the bottom. Instead of the sparkles that Glimmer was normally imbued with, she had that blackish-purple aura. To complete her terrifying, majestic look, the sclera of Glimmer's eyes were blackened, with her iris being a dark purple color. Glimmer's eyes glowed with rage as she slowly walked towards Brittni.

"Y...You're that princess!" Brittni said, pointing at Glimmer. Glimmer smirked devilishly as she raised her hands side by side. As she raised her hands a blackish-purple vector began swirling around her right hand. Brittni gasped. With her left hand, Glimmer pointed her finger towards Brittni. Once Glimmer pointed at her, Brittni began levitating off the ground, restrained in that blackish-purple aura. Brittni looked around frantically, and tried to get out of the aura, but it was no use. Slowly, Glimmer pulled Brittni towards her, telekinetically. Brittni's eyes became wide, staring at Glimmer's evil gaze.

"Well… if it isn't the Horde soldier that broke my spirit when she decided to invade Elberon…" Glimmer said, menacingly. Brittni continued to stare, and grit her teeth.

"I wasn't there to hurt anyone! I was only there to help bring order to Etheria!" Brittni protested. Glimmer growled upon hearing that.

"I'm getting really tired of hearing the Horde claiming their 'noble intentions' of bringing peace to Etheria. All that any of you has done is bring chaos and hatred." Glimmer said in a sinister tone. Glimmer exhaled and regained her composure, "but, I guess I should be thanking you and the rest of the Horde scum… after all, you're the reason I became this." Brittni shuddered.

"No… That's not true… I'm just a medic… a nurse… a healer!" Brittni protested. Glimmer smirked again.

"A healer, huh? Well... Let's see you heal from this." Glimmer said as the vortex in her hand began spinning faster. Glimmer was about to push it into Brittni's face until Glimmer screamed in pain, causing her to lose focus. The vortex faded and Brittni was dropped from Glimmer's telekinesis. Brittni groaned as she hit the ground. She looked over to see none other than her brother, Brett, firing the shot.

"Brett!" Brittni yelled as she scrambled to stand up. Glimmer had fallen to her knees and turned her head towards Brett, gritting her teeth and growling at him.

"Brittni! Get out of here! Find the crystal ball! The Oracle will guide you!" Brett yelled as he fired more shots at Glimmer, Glimmer teleported, avoiding the shots.

"Crystal ball?! Oracle?! Brett, what is going on?! How did we even get here-" Brittni tried to ask before she saw Glimmer teleport above Brett, and drop kicking him as she fell down. Brittni gasped and said, "Brett! No!" Brett used the butt of his rifle to hit Glimmer off of him.

"Go! Now! It'll all make sense when you find the Oracle! I'll hold Glimmer off!" Brittni's eyes glistened and her lip quivered upon seeing Brett fighting for her. Brett screamed out again as Glimmer wrapped the blackish-purple aura around Brett. With the little strength Brett had, he managed to choke out one last command.

"Go!" Brett choked out. Brittni obeyed and ran off. She didn't know exactly where she was going but she began hearing a voice. Brittni looked around and saw a cave that was adjacent to the walls of Glenmar. The voice became more clear.

"_Brittni, in here, quickly."_ The voice beseeched. Brittni obeyed the prompting and went towards the cave. As she made her advance, she heard the evil cackle again. She looked back and saw Glimmer making a beeline towards her. Brittni gasped and hightailed it to the cave. Glimmer kept pace with her.

"C'mon, Horde scum! I just want to play! HAHA!" Glimmer yelled, maniacally. Glimmer was within inches of grabbing Brittni when Brittni dove into the cave. As Brittni dove, she started falling. Everything around Brittni was pitch-dark, so she was unable to see what was happening around her. Fear quickly enveloped Brittni, thinking that it was the end for her. She closed her eyes and embraced for the worst.

_"Brittni…" _A familiar, disembodied voice penetrated Brittni's ears as though it were inches from them. She was lying prone on the ground with her eyes closed. Upon hearing that voice, she started blinking. Brittni shifted her head quickly to the left and the right. She was in a large, dimly lit room that had a purple, glowing ambiance about it. The walls were lined with some kind of luminescent circuitry. The ground below Brittni was made of some kind of glassy, purple, tile. As Brittni started pushing herself up, she noticed something different about her hands and forearms. She saw that her hands and forearms were covered in white gloves and bracers; her medical armor. She shifted her arms around to make sure what she was seeing was true.

_"How did I get into my armor…? Where am I?" _Brittni thought to herself as she fully picked herself up. Brittni looked around but saw nobody, _"I was… fighting those rebels… The Princess and the Archer... then… how did I end up here?" _Brittni asked herself, thoroughly baffled by her circumstances. Brittni was trying to make sense of all that was happening, but remained utterly confused. She had no idea how she ended up in Glenmar, how that Princess became so frightening, what Brett was talking about with the Oracle and crystal ball, and how she now ended up in this room. She walked around, the clicks of her heels sounding like a horse trotting, from all the silence.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Brittni inquired, hoping for some kind of friendly response.

"Ah, Brittni, hello." A figure said to Brittni from behind.

"AH!" Brittni screamed as she jumped and fell forward. Brittni growled, "you know, I'm getting _REALLY_ sick of people sneaking up on-" Brittni began until she looked back and beheld the figure who had just spoken to her. The figure before Brittni was a woman. The woman had a radiant, azure blue aura that surrounded her. Her skin also seemed to be a lighter, sky blue. She was clothed in a bright, silver dress. Atop her head was a dark blue head wrap that was endowed with silver chains. The iris' in her eyes were a golden yellow that gleamed brightly. Brittni turned herself all the way around and started crawling backwards, away from the woman.

"Brittni…" the mysterious woman spoke, reaching her hand out.

"Stay back! I don't know who you are, but I have been intimidated, threatened, and attacked more times than I can count in the last couple of days, so there is a fast, positive feedback racing between my stress hormones and my violent hormones, and I'm not sure what's going to happen if I take anymore of this!" Brittni yelled, rather articulately. The mysterious woman retracted her hand gesture and gazed at Brittni with a solemn, placid look.

"I understand. You have faced more violence, ethical dilemmas, and heartache in the last couple of days than you've ever had to before. I understand you are under a lot of duress at the moment. But please, I can assure you, Brittni, I am not here to harm you. I am only here to help you." The mysterious woman said, sincerely. Brittni stopped her retreat, but reached behind her back, trying to find the shock baton she had brought with her from the Fright Zone.

"I apologize, but you do not have the weapon you're looking for." The mysterious woman said, candidly. Brittni reached around, erratically, confirming the mysterious woman's declaration. Brittni began to sweat a little. The mysterious woman continued, "in fact, you may have noticed, but you're no longer clad in your… ninja attire." The mysterious woman said with a light chuckle. Brittni glared at the mysterious woman.

"Okay, listen, whoever you are! First of all, enough with the ninja quips! Second, I want answers, and I want them now!" Brittni shouted as she picked herself up. She pointed at the mysterious woman and continued, "who are you? How did I get here? What happened to that princess? And where is Adora and the rebel archer?" Brittni demanded. The mysterious woman wriggled her hands, rhythmically in front of her then clasped her hands together. As she pulled her hands away, a magical screen appeared. Brittni peered closely, and widened her eyes in shock. She was looking at Glimmer and Bow tying up Adora and… herself. Brittni gasped and pulled her head away.

"What's going on?!" Brittni demanded. The mysterious woman wriggled her fingers again, and the magical screen dissipated into the air.

"Patience, Brittni. I will explain. Perhaps you'd like to sit down?" The mysterious woman said as she snapped her fingers.

"Sit down? On what-" Brittni started before a chair appeared right below her, knocking her legs, forcing her to collapse into the chair. Brittni looked down and let out a little yelp, "okay, this is getting really freaky…" Brittni sighed, then continued, "but… nothing has been normal the last couple of days…" Brittni rested her arms on the armrest of the chair and let out a big sigh, trying to calm down, "okay, I'm calm, what's going on?" The mysterious woman smiled and began her speaking.

"Brittni, at the moment, you are currently sleeping. This is all a dream. Because of the magic surrounding the Whispering Woods, I was able to harness enough mana reserves in order to reach you in your dream." The mysterious woman declared. Brittni's lip quivered for a few moments, then she stiffened it.

"Bring me something to read." Brittni commanded, folding her arms. The mysterious woman gave a surprised look for a moment, then smiled, catching on. She raised her right hand, and pointed her finger towards Brittni. Out of the mysterious woman's finger, a scroll was conjured, floating above Brittni's knees. Brittni grabbed the scroll and opened it. All that was written on the scroll was a bunch of garbled letters shifted in strange patterns and rotations. Brittni analyzed the scroll for a moment, trying to figure out the writing, then slowly closed it.

"Okay, you're right. I am dreaming. The right side of my brain is shut down. Reading is a function of the right side of the brain, while dreaming comes from the left. It's impossible to read in a dream." Brittni stated, perceptively. The scroll dissipated and the mysterious woman smiled.

"You've always been brilliant, Brittni. It's nice to see your mind work... in person." The mysterious woman said, graciously. Brittni grinned. The mysterious woman then returned her tone to more stoic, and continued, "now, before you ask again, I will enlighten your mind. I am that crystal ball that has been speaking with you in the Fright Zone. You may call me Oracle." Brittni eyed Oracle, suspiciously.

"Oracle? As in… you can see the future?" Brittni asked, skeptically. Oracle nodded, and slowly looked away.

"I have seen many futures, Brittni. Many pasts, and many presents." Oracle said, undoubtedly. She looked back at Brittni, her gaze becoming more contemplative, "however, my gift has become more clouded, recently. A long while ago, my home was attacked by a group of bandits. Although I foresaw their arrival, I refused to leave my home, believing I could defend it. I paid for my arrogance, as did my runestone, the crystal ball." Brittni moved to the edge of her seat and gazed intently at Oracle.

"The crystal ball… it's a runestone Like the runestones that princesses have?" Brittni inquired. Oracle nodded.

"Indeed. When the bandits attacked my home, I managed to defeat them, but not before they had struck the crystal ball, causing it to collapse and shatter. The bandits stole most of the pieces, as the crystals are worth a great deal of wealth. As far as I have been able to see, they have all been refurbished as decorative items such as jewelry and pottery, or some actual crystal balls. Because of how widespread they have become, it has become more difficult to receive timely, propitious visions. Now they work only in a certain proximity. For instance, I can foresee events that happen in the Fright Zone because of the crystal ball in the Monumental Room. Also, I did manage to find enough of the pieces that the bandits left behind to reforge a small crystal ball that has been able to help, somewhat, with my foresight. Soon enough, I must gather them all of them back up and reforge the crystal into one ball. But, I digress, the point is, is that my magic has been draining since losing the entire crystal ball. I will help you when you are close to magical sources, and I will try to reach you in other ways to guide you-." Oracle declared before being interrupted by Brittni whom was putting her hands up in order to pause Oracle.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on. Let me wrap my head around all this…" Brittni began as she stood up and began pacing to the left and right of Oracle, "you've normally been able to see the future, but some bandits raided your home, broke your runestone, and stole the parts to make a profit. You were able to find enough pieces to make another ball that lets you see some of the future. The other fragments of the runestone are basically all over the place, so you can partially see the future everywhere, which also means you can communicate with me anytime I'm near a piece of your runestone." Brittni stopped and looked at Oracle, "is that about right?" Oracle nodded.

"That is correct." Oracle replied. Brittni started rubbing her chin and gazed at nothing in particular.

"Is something wrong, Brittni?" Oracle inquired. Brittni looked at Oracle again and started chuckling, which then turned into a raving laugh.

"Is something wrong? Oh, Oracle there are a myriad of things wrong. I've been trying to recuperate from a mission where I almost died several times, I've been lead around like a red herring from a disembodied voice. Said disembodied voice turns out to be some kind of clairvoyant mystic that is now unable to properly read the future and invade my dreams. Adora and I just got captured by a psycho princess and her sidekick. I'm fighting a war I don't understand. I'm supposed to help 'bring balance,' and I don't even know what that means!" Brittni yelled, while starting to tear up. She sat back down on the chair and put her head in her hands. Oracle stood there, dumbfounded. She walked over to Brittni and put her hand on Brittni's shoulder. Brittni let out a big sigh and looked up at Oracle.

"Yeah, something's wrong." Brittni said, steadying her breathing. Oracle moved around the front of Brittni, wiped her tears, then put both of her hands on Brittni's shoulders.

"Brittni, I know this might not mean much coming from somebody you still haven't been formally introduced to, but I am deeply sorry for all of the trouble you've gone through. You have been through some circumstances that would cause many to give up, immediately. You are an incredibly strong and tenacious young woman, Brittni. One of the reasons I'm talking to you is because of these traits that are instilled in you. You are chosen, because you will do what is right. I know you don't understand why you're going through all of these events, but understand that everything will become clear in time. Just trust that what you're doing right now is the right thing." Oracle said with conviction. Brittni stared at Oracle for a few moments then looked away.

"I know that you believe me. You and your brother's observation powers can detect truth, can't they?" Oracle asserted. Brittni kept looking away for a few moments, then turned her head back to Oracle and nodded.

"Yeah… yeah, I believe you. But what now?" Brittni inquired. Oracle took her hands off Brittni's shoulders then took a step back.

"For now, as soon as you wake up, you need to speak with Glimmer and Bow. Within the hour you will be attacked by a colossal spider, and-" Oracle was saying before Brittni put up her hands to pause Oracle, again.

"Did you just say a colossal spider?!" Brittni asked, a little freaked out. Oracle blinked a couple of times.

"Yes. I am aware that many are disturbed by the creature, but do not worry, you will overcome the spider. Now, when Adora obtains the sword-" Oracle started saying before she started glitching. Her face began shifting in multiple places and her speech started stuttering like a broken record.

"Adora obtains- Adora obtains- sword, sword, sword. Brittni. Colossal spider. Glim-Glim-Gliiiiim. Brittni." Oracle said as her glitching got worse. Brittni leaned back in the chair, aghast at what was happening.

"Oracle! What's happening? What about Adora and the sword?!" Brittni demanded.

"Brittni. Brittni. Brittni…" Oracle tried saying. Brittni jumped off the chair and got close to Oracle.

"Oracle? Oracle!" Brittni yelled trying to shake Oracle.

"Brittni… Brittni…"

"Brittni?" A more familiar voice said. Brittni groaned as she opened her eyes. She was awake, back in the Whispering Woods. Glimmer and Bow were a distance away talking excitedly to each other. Brittni looked to the left and found Adora. Adora gasped, reassured at Brittni's return to consciousness.

"Brittni!" Adora said, trying to stifle her excitement, "I'm glad you're finally awake. I can't believe we let them get to us. We need to get out of here…" Adora's hands were tied behind her back. Brittni attempted to move her arms when she realized that her hands were restrained as well. Brittni growled while struggling. Glimmer and Bow took notice of this and walked over.

"So, our little Horde spies are finally awake." Glimmer said as she bent over, peering into Adora's and Brittni's eyes with a devilish smile. She was leaning on the sword as it was plunged into the ground. Bow was standing a few feet behind her with his arms folded. His eyes looked as though he was disturbed by the situation. Adora looked at Glimmer and glared.

"Stop leaning on my sword!." Adora snapped. Glimmer scoffed, raised her body up, and pulled the sword out of the ground.

"Your sword?" Glimmer said, scornfully, "this sword was found in the Whispering Woods, which is under the Rebellion's protection. Therefore, it's our sword."

"Rebellion's protection, huh? Two guards seems a bit inefficient for an entire forest." Brittni said, facetiously. Adora chuckled a bit. Glimmer growled and raised the sword, pointing it at Brittni. Brittni switched glances between the tip of the sword and Glimmer's irate look.

"You gonna shove that through me like you shoved your fist through Dragstor?" Brittni demanded, convictively. Adora gasped and switched glances between Glimmer and Brittni. Glimmer's scowl was replaced with a mournful and shaken look. Brittni on the other hand, behind her mask, looked resolute in her challenge. Glimmer's lip started to quiver and the sword slowly fell out of her hand. Bow took notice and unfolded his arms. He started walking towards her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Glimmer…?" Bow questioned. A few tears started strewing down her cheek. She shuddered and shook her head. She then glared at Brittni and pulled down Brittni's mask. Upon registering whom it was, Glimmer gasped.

"Y-You! You're the one that was at Elberon!" Glimmer shouted. Brittni's face remained stoic.

"And you're the one that tried to kill me." Brittni said, nonchalantly. Bow gasped and looked at Glimmer.

"I didn't try to kill you! I was just trying to stop the Horde from destroying another town!" Glimmer snapped.

"You threw a guy through a freakin' door." Brittni said, sarcastically.

"I don't need a lecture on morality from somebody that serves a murderous organization! Ugh! Why am I even talking to you?!" Glimme yelled as she put her hands in the air and paced away for a moment. Bow stood there dumbfounded. Adora looked at Brittni, impressed and shocked by her straightforwardness. Glimmer put her head to her hand. Without looking she spoke to Bow.

"Bow, let's get these two spies back to Bright Moon where they can be properly interrogated." Glimmer said. She walked back over to them and picked up the sword, "now, come on! You two, on your feet." The two stood up and all four of them began their sojourn towards Bright Moon. As they ventured forth, Glimmer would teleport around trying to find some kind of vantage point to find where exactly they were; groaning all the while long trying to get Bow's trackerpad to work. Bow stayed behind making sure Brittni and Adora wouldn't attempt to escape. Everybody stayed silent during the trip for a long while. Bow finally broke the silence.

"Sorry about Glimmer, she's usually really nice…" Bow said to Brittni and Adora as they all heard Glimmer growling and groaning off in the distance. Brittni chuckled.

"Did you even hear the part about her throwing a guy through a freakin' door?" Brittni demanded.

"That… okay, well… but that was a war zone. You should meet the real Glimmer." Bow said, suggestively.

"I prefer not to swap pleasantries with our captors." Adora declared, boldly.

"And I met the real Glimmer, she hit me multiple times." Brittni chimed in. Bow started griping. Brittni grinned and added, "don't worry, I won." Bow sighed.

"...Right, anyway, I-" Bow started before he heard Glimmer whimpering, "Glimmer?" Bow asked as he lead the two Horde soldiers towards Glimmer. As they got closer, all three gazed in horror and repugnance. Black smoke permeated the air and only slightly covered the wreckage of robots, buildings… and corpses. Glimmer was on her knees, holding a piece of a broken pot that had artwork on it. Her tears dropped onto the pot, discoloring the art. She looked back at the three who were completely dismayed.

"What… what happened to this place?" Adora demanded. Glimmer stood up and marched over to Adora.

"Don't play dumb! I bet you two were apart of the raiding party that did this!" Glimmer snapped. Adora was taken aback then glared at Glimmer.

"What are you talking about? The Horde didn't do this!" Adora snapped back. Glimmer grabbed Adora's shoulder and guided her deeper into the wreckage and pointed at a destroyed Horde robot.

"You are nothing but a heartless destroyer just like the rest of the Horde!" Glimmer shouted. Brittni broke from Bow's grip and marched over to Glimmer.

"You're one to talk! You call us evil. I saw what you and the rest of the rebel soldiers did at Elberon. You all killed us, mercilessly. Your mayor was a complete psychopath that used magic to torture us." Brittni said as she moved closer to Glimmer. Glimmer squared herself up, "and you… funny that you use the word, 'heartless.' How do you think Dragstor is doing?" Glimmer's glare curved into a somber, regretful look for a few moments. She shook her head then shot back at Brittni.

"You're the ones that instigated the attack! You always do-" Glimmer started yelling before Bow came into the picture.

"Whoa! Hang on, let's all just calm down a little-" Bow started before, in turn, being interrupted by Glimmer.

"I can't calm down, Bow! We can't trust these two! They are members of the Evil Horde!" Glimmer shot back. Adora's eyes widened.

"Who calls us that?!" Adora demanded.

"...Everybody!" Bow said, louder than he meant to. Adora and Brittni switched glances between each other and Bow. Everybody was quiet for a few moments, looking at each other. For some odd reason during this seemingly eternal interchange, Brittni began thinking. She looked at Bow and then at Glimmer.

"_Bow is truthful in his conviction, and frankly, he seems like a rather nice young man. Glimmer was visibly upset. Her tears are sincere and her voice is ringing with conviction. Sure, she has been vociferate and hostile with her words and actions… but if the Horde really has done all this damage to her life, can I blame her? Besides… if I have a chance to prevent Glimmer from becoming that evil thing, I need to do that." _Brittni thought to herself. Brittni was about to bring a compromise into the situation. She wanted to explain how she felt after the Siege of Elberon and her thoughts regarding the war in general. Maybe if they had a diplomatic talk, they could find some kind of compromise. Before Brittni could open her mouth to begin this diplomacy, however, her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a powerful screech. The group of four turned their attention to the source of the noise. The screech sounded like a bat if it was the size of a rhino and was screaming into a distorted microphone. Soon after their attention was diverted, the group beheld a gigantic limb, at least eight feet high. The limb looked like a thickened, blade end of a scythe that was covered with a grey exoskeleton that had sharpened bumps on it. The group stared in horror as another limb appeared. Yet another appeared until the host of the limbs showed its face. It was the colossal spider that Oracle had spoken of. It looked like a gigantic moth head, with six dark blue eyes and razor sharp teeth. When the creature saw the group, it let out another deafening screech. Bow nocked an arrow in his bow, and Glimmer generated the purple aura around her hands. Bow looked to Glimmer.

"Run or fight?" Bow quickly asked. Glimmer looked at him with a determined look, then back to the creature.

"...Fight."


	17. Chapter 17: The Separation

Chapter 17: The Separation

"...Fight." Glimmer muttered as she generated the purple aura around her fists. Adora and Brittni ran and took cover into some nearby bushes. Not noticing, the Horde soldier's actions, Glimmer and Bow readied themselves. Glimmer gave a battle cry as she ran at the gargantuan monster before her. The spider lifted its bony, front right limb up, and brought it down with the intention of stabbing Glimmer. Bow fired the arrow he had nocked into his bow at the spiders attacking limb. The force of the arrow struck the spiders limb with great force, moving it out of the way of hitting Glimmer. The spider raised its other limb to continue its right limb's objective of splitting Glimmer's skull. Just before the sharpened exoskeleton landed on Glimmer, however, she teleported out of reach, getting closer to its eyes. Once in range, Glimmer lobbed the purple energy her fist had generated, into the monster's eyes with a right cross. The monster shook its head erratically from the temporary blindness induced by Glimmer's powers, and screeched right into Glimmer's face, forcing her off balance. Glimmer shrieked as she covered her ears, trying to block out the tumult coming from the creatures larynx. The creature began flailing its limbs back and forth, one of them whacking Glimmer, sending her flying to the left, slamming her into a tree, back first. Glimmer screamed as she flew like a ragdoll launched from a cannon, and choked out a breath of air as she made contact with the tree. As she slid down, Bow wailed when he saw his comrade become incapacitated.

"Glimmer!" Bow yelled as he went to make a run towards her. Before he could, however, the spider, still blinded from Glimmer's sparkle blast began swinging its limbs back and forth. Bow ducked out of the way of one of the creatures swipes, rolled out of the way with the next swipe, and held up his bow as a shield against the last limb swipe, while on one knee. The creature shrieked and started pushing its right limb harder, while Bow was putting all of his strength into pushing the creatures limb back. His efforts were failing, however. The spider leaned in closer, forcing him onto his back. The sweat was streaming rapidly down his head as he took several deep breaths, grunting, wondering how he could get out of this mess. Meanwhile, while all this commotion was happening, Brittni and Adora, while hiding in the bushes, started unbinding each others wrists. Thanks to Brittni being five foot nothing, she was able to lift her knees up and pull her arms under her legs. Adora nervously chuckled as she saw Brittni do this.

"I guess being short has its perks." Adora said, facetiously. Brittni narrowed her eyes at Adora then flicked her forehead. Adora widened her eyes.

"Did you just flick me?!" Adora demanded.

"This is really not the time, Adora…" Brittni muttered as she spun Adora around and began unbinding Adora's restraints.

"I know… sorry, I say things I don't mean when I'm nervous-ergh!" Adora squealed as Brittni was untying her.

"Sorry! These are tighter than I thought." Brittni said as she finally pulled the last knot. Adora started rubbing her wrists together and exhaled.

"Thanks, Brittni." Adora said as Brittni smiled and nodded. Adora then said, "okay, your turn." While Adora started undoing Brittni's restraints,Brittni turned her head to face the commotion that was going on with the rebels and the spider. She had just witnessed Glimmer getting slammed against the tree, causing her to cringe, raise her cheeks and grit her teeth.

"Oooh.. Tss.. That's gotta hurt… can't say I'll shed a tear, though." Brittni said, chuckling as she waited for Adora to unbind her wrists. When she saw Bow struggling against the oversized bug, she felt a modicum of pity. The more she saw him struggle, being pushed onto his back, the more Brittni felt more and more pity. As Adora pulled the last knot, Brittni started rubbing her hands, not taking her eyes of Bow. Adora moved up beside Brittni and gawked, mouth agape at the situation that was happening. Both of the girls slowly turned their heads towards each other. Almost reading one another's minds, they spoke.

"Should we?" Brittni asked.

"Yep." Adora sighed. And with that, the two Horde soldiers jumped out of the bushes and charged towards the creature, howling as they ran. Bow looked over at the yelling and cocked his eyebrow. Brittni scooped up some rocks and started chucking them at the spiders eyes. The spider let out its loud screech and loosened its force on the limb that was pinning Bow down. This distraction allowed Adora to strike. When around five feet away, Adora jumped and raised her foot, launching it at the limb that was holding Bow down. The force of her kick knocked the limb out of the way. Adora landed on one knee near Bow. She looked down at Bow and the two locked eyes. Adora held out her hand. Switching glances between Adora and her hand, he grabbed it, and she pulled him up.

"Look out!" Brittni yelled. The creature started swinging its left limb towards Bow and Adora. Bow dove out of the way to the right, away from the creature. Adora, however, was too late, having her back to the creatures limb. Just like Glimmer, the creatures limb smacked into Adora's back, sending her flying towards the tree that Glimmer had flown into. Glimmer was just picking herself up. When Glimmer stood up and came to, her eyes went wide as Adora slammed into her, knocking both of them out. Bow reached for his namesaked weapon, only to realize he had dropped it when he dove away from the spider. The spider started thrusting its two available limbs at Bow, while he tried to dodge. One of the limbs managed to hit his pauldron, knocking him on his back. While on the ground, the spider started plunging its two limbs into the ground, trying to hit him. He rolled out of the way, to the left and right. Finally, the spider thrusted a limb, aimed at Bow's chest. He managed to grab it, holding it from piercing his chest. Brittni in the meantime had ran over to the pack that the rebel soldiers were holding the Horde soldier's equipment and grabbed her shock baton and radio. She had noticed the spider raising its available limb, ready to plunge it into Bow. Bow let out a terrified shout. Noticing Bow's screams, Brittni gasped. Shock baton in hand, Brittni ignited it, charged at the spider, and fired a few potshots at the spider's back, not piercing its carapace, but getting its attention. The spider lifted its limb off of Bow and erratically turned its gigantic, bony head towards Brittni, baring its sharpened-edged teeth. Brittni, pretty much, immediately regretted her decision of shooting it, especially when the spider let out its ear-splitting screech and began trudging towards Brittni.

"You know, I'd like to go more than a few hours without being attacked by something!" Brittni protested as she started running away from the spider, firing the shock baton's plasma at it as she ran. The projectiles were not stopping the spider, however. The spider was creeping ever closer to Brittni, using its back four legs to give chase, and its two front limbs to swipe at her. Thanks to her observation powers, Brittni was rather quick to easily dodge each swipe. She could not do this forever, though, and she was wondering exactly what to do. While she was running and dodging, she was looking for something, anything, that resembled any semblance of a weak point. She dove into a grove of trees to catch her breath and get a better look. Because of the gargantuan size of the creature, it could not get closer to Brittni. Brittni was behind a tree, catching her breath when the creature thrusted its limb passed the tree, inches away from her face. Brittni's eyes grew wide, but she held her gasp in. The limb then slid back from the tree like a sword from a sheath. The monster let out another screech. Brittni started backing away from the tree to get a good look at the spider. Upon seeing Brittni, the spider thrusted its two front limbs at her, but seemingly avoiding the actual trees. Brittni moved back enough to where she knew the spider couldn't reach her. While regaining her composure, Brittni noticed that the spider was going around the trees, and seemingly, was also being careful not to even touch the trees. The spider let out deafening, angry screeches as its limbs kept going in and out of the grove without ever touching the trees. Brittni folded her arms and put her right hand to her chin.

_"Can the spider not touch the trees?"_ Brittni wondered to herself. She unholstered her shock baton and aimed it at the tree. She fired on the edge of the tree, the green plasma splintering the bark from the tree, causing it to fly in all directions. The spider let out a fearful screech and stopped its attack. Its limbs retracted towards its body, and it took a few steps back. Brittni stared in awe, then grinned. She came up with a plan. Moving through the woods, the spider cautiously followed around her, not daring touching the trees, but keeping its eyes on Brittni. When she got closer to Bow, she realized he was was knelt over with Glimmer and Adora trying to wake them up. Brittni shouted at him, while still in the cover of the grove.

"Hey! Uh… Archery guy. Um... Bow!" Brittni sputtered out. Bow turned his head with a surprised expression, "listen, I have an idea on how to get rid of the spider. Do you have some kind of… like, rope arrow or something?" Bow's expression changed from surprised to determined. He pulled a certain arrow out of his quiver and spun it around in his hand.

"Right here." Bow yelled back at Brittni. The spider heard Bow yell and slowly turned its body towards him. Brittni fired at a tree in front of her again, causing the spider to immediately redirect its attention at Brittni, showing another sign of fear. Bow shuddered.

"Whoa, what're you doing-" Bow started before being interrupted by Brittni.

"Just trust me! I'm going to fire at the base of a tree. When it starts falling, I want you to fire a rope arrow at it and direct it to fall on the spider. Can you do that?" Brittni asked. Bow switched glances between the fearful spider and Brittni then nodded.

"Okay, let's do this." Bow said as he nocked the arrow in his bow. Brittni ran around the edge of the woods so the spider would continue to give chase and keep its attention fixated on her. She was also looking for a rather large tree. Bow was following the spider, keeping his distance. Finally, Brittni came upon a pretty big tree. She ignited the shock baton, it glowing brighter as she charged up the shot. She then let out a large line of plasma at the base of the tree causing it to splinter and start falling. The spider let out an enraged screeched and started erratically thrusting its limbs around the tree. One of its edges, inches away from Brittni. Brittni jumped back and missed the limbs.

"Hey! Over here!" Bow yelled, jumping in the air, and waving his arms. The spider retracted its limbs and looked over at Bow, beginning its movement towards him. Bow shuddered as he began taking steps backwards. Brittni noticed this and acted quickly. She fired a couple more shots at the base of the tree, and it began falling.

"Timber!" Brittni yelled as the tree started falling towards her, it getting stopped by other tree branches. She then fired a couple more shots at the spider, making it stop dead in its tracks. When Bow saw the tree falling he fired the rope arrow at it and pulled at it with all his might. Brittni was simultaneously pushing the tree. With all the effort of a hundred people, the two managed to move the tree towards the spider. The spider noticed Bow grunting and turned towards him, raised its limb, and was about to plunge it into him, when the tree collapsed right on top of the spider, forcing it to the ground. It let out a loud, long, and animalistic screech as its limbs began waving around trying to get up. Brittni ran towards Bow and they both moved away from the spiders flailing limbs. After a few moments, the spider stopped moving, apparently dead. They both stood there, admiring their work.

"Not bad… for a rebel." Brittni joked, winking at Bow. Bow grinned.

"Could say the same for a Horde ninja." Bow chimed in as they both started laughing. Brittni looked at Bow and saw that he was smiling at her. For a moment, a flood of thoughts came into Brittni's mind.

_"This rebel isn't so bad… it's just like back at Elberon. The rebel soldier under the wardrobe. He was a regular person, just like this archer…" _Brittni thought to herself as she continued to stare without making a sound. No words came out. Bow looked at Brittni, concerned.

"Hey, are you okay?" Bow inquired. Brittni lightly shook her head, snapping her back to reality, and she smiled.

"I'm fine. Um… let's go check on our people." Brittni said, rubbing her right shoulder with her left. Bow nodded and the duo walked over to find Glimmer and Adora getting up. They both groaned as they picked themselves up. Glimmer was to the left and Brittni was to the right. Bow and Brittni went to their respective comrades and helped them up. Adora hugged Brittni as she was helped up. Glimmer patted herself down.

"Brittni! I'm glad you're okay." Adora said as she broke from the embrace. Brittni smiled, and Adora continued, "what happened to the spider?" Brittni looked behind herself, and pointed at the gargantuan spider, pinned under a tree. All four looked back.

"How did you take it down?" Glimmer inquired.

"Oh, you should have seen it, Glimmer!" Bow said, excitedly, "there we were, the spider was trying to stab me with its forearms, and just as it was about to kill me, woosh! Brittni shot at it, giving me some breathing room. Then, we figured out that the spider, for some reason, couldn't touch the trees-" Bow continued before being interrupted by Brittni clearing her throat.

"Ah hem! You mean, _I _figured it out." Brittni said, folding her arms. Bow scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, heh, heh. You're right. Sorry. Anyway, Brittni cut down a tree, and I used my rope arrow to pull the tree onto the spider. How cool is that?!" Bow inquired, excitedly. Glimmer gazed at Bow with a smile.

"Well, that's super, Bow, good work." Glimmer said, feigning enthusiasm. Her tone then sounded more annoyed, "but bad news, we still have a couple of Horde soldiers to fight!" She said, her voice sounding more irritated.

"Glimmer, we don't have to fight them. They did come back and help us" Bow said, sympathetically.

"We can't trust them, Bow!" Glimmer snapped, stretching her arms at her sides in protest.. Brittni and Adora glanced at each other, then Glimmer. For a few moments, everybody was silent. Adora then stepped forward and broke the silence.

"Look; Glimmer, is it? We didn't come here to fight. All I want is the sword." Adora said, diplomatically.

"The sword belongs to the Rebellion. We'll be taking it back with us." Glimmer declared. Brittni spoke up.

"Look, there has to be a diplomatic solution to-" Brittni started before they heard a dreaded, familiar, animalistic screech coming from behind. The group turned towards the noise to see the spider begin lifting itself up. Its former blue eyes began to glow a bright red. The screech that it was making before sounded more distorted, now. It was slowly lifting itself up, until it gave a final push that threw the tree off its back.

"Oh, not good…" Brittni said, staring wide-eyed at the creature. The four got into their battle positions: Bow nocking an arrow, Glimmer generating the purple aura in her fists, and Brittni igniting her shock baton. Adora glanced around, and saw the sword by the ruins of the home that was destroyed by the Horde. The ruins were to the right, in between the group and the spider. Without giving much thought, Adora made a beeline towards the ruins to grab the sword.

"Cover me!" Adora shouted as she began her dash.

"Adora wait- Ugh, fire!" Brittni commanded. With that, Bow fired an explosive arrow, Glimmer threw her purple energy, and Brittni fired the shock baton, all at the spider. The spider curled up into a ball, into some kind of defensive position. The explosive arrow hit the spider but didn't crack when it exploded onto the spider. Glimmer's energy wasn't doing anything, nor was Brittni's plasma bolts. The three stared in horror as the spider picked itself up and took notice of Adora. The three continued to fire their weapons at the spider, seemingly not doing any damage as their projectiles hit its exoskeleton. Adora was just at the ruins, and she was looking through the clutter to see where Glimmer had dropped the sword. The spider charged at Adora. Adora looked back, screamed, and rifled through the ruins, faster. The spider was just about to make contact with Adora, moving head first to pummel her. She looked back and dove to the left, barely dodging the spider as it ran into, and knocked down the buildings wall. When Adora dove, she felt something under her. The sword! The spider shook the debris off its head, then turned to the left towards Adora, again, letting out a deepened screech. Quickly, Adora grabbed the sword, ready to defend herself. Just as the spider opened its mouth to rip Adora apart, Adora shouted at it.

"For the honor, of Grayskull!" Adora shouted, her voice seeming to echo. As soon as Adora shouted that, a flash of blue light emanated from the sword, and enshrouded Adora. A bright yellow vortex then surrounded Adora. When it dissipated, Adora seemed to be no more. In her place was an eight foot tall woman that had Adora's face. She was wearing a white tunic with a gold trim, a golden tiara, white boots with a blue and gold trim. She had golden bracers, as well as golden pauldrons. Donning her back was a red cape. As soon as transformation occurred, the spider immediately stopped its descent. The creatures eyes turned from red, back to blue, and its muscles loosened up. It slowly prostrated itself on the ground. The two rebels and Brittni stared, mouth agape at the majesty that was the woman with the sword. They switched glances between each other and the woman. The woman stood there, majestically, pointing the sword at the, now, placid spider.

"Glimmer…?" Bow asked, still awestruck by the resplendence of the woman with the sword.

"Yeah. I see her, Bow." Glimmer responded, equally dumbfounded. Brittni was the most shocked out of all of them.

"A..Adora?" Brittni asked, stepping towards the woman and the spider. The woman with the sword did not seem to notice. For a few moments, the woman was smiling devilishly at the spider with narrowed eyes. Suddenly, the woman's eyes grew wide as she looked at herself. She started shrieking with confused fear, causing her to drop the sword. When she dropped the sword, she simultaneously fell backwards onto her bottom. Suddenly, the radiance surrounded the woman again, and quickly disappeared. When it disappeared, Adora reappeared. Adora looked around, letting out a shriek and began panting, breathlessly. Glimmer narrowed her eyes at Adora. She then teleported next to Adora, and reached for the sword. Adora grabbed it first, and the two started tugging it back and forth.

"What did you do to me?!" Adora demanded as they were fighting for the sword.

"What do you mean, 'what did I do?' Glimmer snapped back.

"I didn't know being a princess was contagious!" Adora howled. Bow ran over to the two of them, waving his arms.

"Okay, okay, everyone calm down!" Bow yelled, his voice cracking a bit. He then lowered his voice and looked to Adora, "you wanna tell us how you did that?"

"Did what? Grow two and a half feet and have a magical wardrobe change?! You tell me!" Adora yelled out. This whole time this interchange was happening, the spider laid there like an obedient dog. Brittni moved closer but kept her distance.

"...Adora?" Brittni inquired. The three looked at Brittni who was visibly shaken. Adora looked over at Brittni, equally distraught. Adora loosened her grip on the sword and let Glimmer take it. She stepped over the ruins and walked over to Brittni. Brittni just stood there.

"Brittni, I… I don't know what happened." Adora said, completely bewildered. Brittni remained speechless for a few moments, opening her mouth but not saying anything. She then spoke.

"Adora… are you a princess?" Brittni inquired. Adora shuddered.

"No! I… I mean, I can't be a princess. Princesses are monsters!" Adora snapped. From behind, Glimmer and Bow stared in disgust at the two Horde soldiers.

"Excuse me?! Monsters?!" Glimmer yelled. She then teleported in between Adora and Brittni, "you call us monsters? Look what your precious Horde did to us!" Glimmer said, pointing at the ruins. Adora's eyebrows and mouth curved into a frown as she gazed at the ruins once again. She stared in deep thought, not saying a word. Suddenly, Bow gasped. The spider began lifting itself up again, and let out a very low roar. Its eyes turned red again. Bow took notice and started backing away. Suddenly, the spider completely picked itself up and let out a loud screech. Bow grabbed the sword and started running.

"Catch!" Bow yelled as he tossed the sword to Adora. She slid out of the way, letting the sword clang to the ground, "wha- why didn't you catch it?!" Bow yelled as he started running towards the group.

"Who catches a sword being thrown at them?!" Adora yelled.

"Oh, uh, right. never mind, just run!" Bow yelled as he was running. The other three joined Bow as they ran out towards the woods; Bow and Brittni hoping that the spider wouldn't go through. They all made it into a grove of trees to catch their breath. As they did so, they looked over at the spider, hoping that it would stop like it did before. Their hopes were crushed, however, as the spider crashed into the grove of trees like a freight train going through a concrete wall. The trees splintered and felled as the spider blasted through them. The four screamed and continued to run with the spider close behind. Bow nocked an explosive arrow into his Bow and turned around for a moment to fire it. He fired it at the ground to where the spider was about to step, detonating the ground and causing the spider to get the majority of its limbs stuck in the crater that was created.

"That'll buy us time." Bow shouted as he turned back to catch up with the other three. The spider was struggling in a frenzy to get out of the crater. As the four kept running, they came upon a cave.

"In there!" Glimmer yelled as she pointed at the cave. The four made their way into the cave and delved deep in order to avoid the spider. Glimmer generated the aura around her fists to illuminate the area. The group began catching their breaths, sitting down and leaning against the walls to rest for a few moments. While resting, the group looked around. There seemed to be some strange writing on the wall that seemed to be indecipherable… at least to everyone but Adora. Adora narrowed her eyes at the writing and wondered to herself.

"Huh, I guess there were other people in the same situation as us." Adora said. Everyone else looked at her.

"What do you mean?" Bow inquired. Adora pointed at the wall.

"The story? On the wall?" Adora asked, matter-of-factly, "it says a family took refuge in this cave after being chased down by a colossal creature." Glimmer and Bow stared in awe at Adora, while Brittni held her knees up to her chest as she was sitting against a wall.

"You can read that?!" Bow asked, excitedly.

"You can't?" Adora inquired. Glimmer and Bow went on to explain about the First Ones and their incredible technology. Adora was fascinated with their stories and listened, intently. Brittni continued to sulk in her corner. Adora took notice and walked over to Brittni.

"Could you two give us a minute?" Adora asked as she knelt down next to Brittni. Bow and Glimmer looked at each other, shrugged, and went to the front of the cave. One the two rebels were out of auditory distance, Adora spoke.

"Brittni, are you okay?" Adora inquired, sitting next to Brittni and wrapping her arm around her shoulders. Brittni tilted her head up, then turned it towards Adora.

"Are you a princess, Adora? And how did you read that?" Brittni asked. Adora opened her mouth, but no words came out. She closed her mouth again then frowned.

"I don't know…" Adora began, pausing for a few moments, "but you saw what happened. One moment I'm me, the next, I'm some kind of eight foot tall lady." It went quiet after what Adora said. Brittni wanted to speak but didn't know what to say. She looked to the end of the cave to see Glimmer sitting on the ground, and Bow leaning against a wall towards the entrance. After a few moments, Brittni finally said something.

"I feel like I should be used to this by now. Life has thrown a million curve balls at me this entire week." Brittni muttered, letting out a sigh. She looked to Adora, "so what's our next move?" Brittni inquired. Adora looked down at the ground, thoughtless.

"I… I want to know more about what's going on." Adora began. She then looked at Brittni, "ever since you told me about the siege of Elberon, in particular, about the guy that was being tortured by Dragstor… you said that he spoke of the Horde doing all those horrible things. And that village that we just saw that was ransacked by the Horde. I mean, is there any way to explain the good from that?" Adora inquired. Brittni looked down at the ground and sighed.

"I hate to admit it, but I could tell by the evidence that the populace of that village didn't put up a fight. I couldn't tell you why the Horde attacked them." Brittni said, skeptically. The cave was silent again for a few moments.

"Well, I want to know what happened to me. I want to understand more about why the Horde and Rebellion are fighting. Those two said something about First One's… maybe they could help me figure it out." Adora suggested. Brittni immediately turned to Adora, and narrowed her eyes.

"Do you hear yourself, Adora? As much as I'd like to trust at least the archery guy, I cannot trust the princess! She almost killed Dragstor!" Brittni snapped, stifling her voice so the others wouldn't hear her. Adora sighed.

"I know, Brittni, I know… I just, I feel something pulling me towards them. I can't quite explain it. I dunno, maybe I just need to go clear my head." Adora said, picking herself up off the ground. Brittni stood up as well, and the two walked to the entrance of the cave. Bow turned towards them, still leaning against the wall.

"Hey, you two alright?" Bow inquired.

"We're fine… Thank you." Adora responded. Brittni just nodded her head. Bow put his hands together and rubbed them.

"Okay, great. Well, I think we should get out of here. I took a look around and I didn't see the spider, anywhere. I think we're in the clear." Bow declared.

"Don't get all buddy-buddy with them, Bow. They're still Horde soldiers." Glimmer stated, bitterly, staring off in the distance. Bow sighed and started walking out of the cave. Glimmer teleported next to him. Adora ran after them. The two turned towards Adora as she arrived.

"Wait, I… I feel some kind of pull towards you two. Like, I feel like we were supposed to meet." Adora declared. While Adora and the others were talking, Brittni was walking towards them. As she was traversing towards the group, Brittni heard a very faint skittering noise. She stopped her motion and squared up her body. She closely listened to the noise. Brittni analyzed the area. To the right and left there were groves of trees with some bushes and other vegetation. Adora and company were to the right side, and the skittering was coming from the left. The skittering noise started sounding more clear as Brittni took slow steps towards the group. Brittni then heard a buzzing noise. Once she put two and two together, she realized what the sound was: A giant wasp. The wasp was about four inches long and had a stinger about half the size. As soon as Brittni figured out what the noises were, her vision was made manifest. The giant wasp slowly lifted itself up out of the bushes and was staring directly at the distracted group. Brittni gasped and unholstered her shock baton.

"Look out!" Brittni yelled. The group turned towards Brittni as she ignited her baton. She pointed it to the left, which directed the attention of the group towards the wasp. Brittni then fired the projectile plasma from her baton at the wasp. The bolt from Brittni's baton flew right into the wasp, forcing it into a tree, and causing it to explode in a molten green mess splattered against the tree. Brittni was running towards the group, shouting, "there's gonna be more! Go- Ugh!" Brittni screamed in agony as she felt a sting hit her back. It was another wasp's stinger. The venom from the stinger had some kind of muscle relaxant to it, as Brittni collapsed to the ground.

"Brittni!" Adora yelled as she started running towards her. Glimmer teleported to Brittni, first, and generated the aura in her right fist, punching the wasp into the ground, splattering it. Adora grabbed Brittni and put her arm around her. Adora also turned to Glimmer in surprise.

"Thanks, Glimmer!" Adora said, nodding at Glimmer. Glimmer smiled before hearing the buzzing noise. They all looked and saw a swarm headed towards them. Bow took notice and fired an explosive arrow at the swarm. He managed to hit one, which detonated the explosive, taking out the majority of them. Brittni, though weakened, finally remembered something. She had the radio that Brett gave her. She didn't want the rebels to know that she was going to call for help, so instead, she activated the distress signal which would alert Brett and pinpoint Brittni's location. She pulled out the radio and did just that while Adora was distracted by carrying her. Meanwhile, the swarm was closing in.

"Can you teleport us out of this?!" Adora yelled to Glimmer. Glimmer looked to Adora while they were both running.

"I'll do what I can!" Glimmer yelled back. She took Adora's hand and focused her teleport. With that, the group of three disappeared in an assemblage of purple sparkles. The wasps, confused, continued to fly in the same direction. Bow had already hid himself behind a tree. The wasps flew right passed Bow. Glimmer and party managed to teleport right next to Bow, slightly scaring him. Once they all knew that the wasps were gone, they all took a breather. Adora set Brittni down by a tree. Brittni was slowly losing consciousness.

"Okay, we need to do something for Brittni." Adora said, looking to Bow and Glimmer. Before either one could respond, they started hearing a cracking noise. They all looked around but saw nothing. The cracking sound started getting louder, near their feet. They all looked at their feet, realizing that the ground was breaking below. Before they could react, they realized that they were on the edge of a ten foot cliff, and it had just caved in. The three screamed as they fell down into a valley of some sort. They all groaned as they started picking themselves up. From all of the commotion, the wasps were able to pinpoint the groups location. Slowly, they all started hearing the dreaded buzzing noises. They turned towards the wasps and gasped. They turned away from the winged beasts, sprinting for their lives. As they ran, the ground beneath them started feeling like glassy tile. At the end of this glassy tile was a door shaped like a triangle.

"What is that?!" Glimmer yelled as they were running.

"Not sure! But, anywhere is better than here!" Bow replied.

"What about Brittni?!" Adora protested.

"We'll go back to her! Come on!" Glimmer yelled as they all ran to the triangular door. Brittni in the meanwhile was slowly seeping into a deep slumber. Before she fully passed out, a single thought pervaded her thoughts:

_"Brett… Help me…" _and with that, Brittni closed her eyes.


	18. Chapter 18: Welcome Back

Chapter 18: Welcome Back

_"Brittni's vitals are stable, she'll be waking up soon." _An unfamiliar voice echoed in Brittni's ears. The voice sounded muffled, as though it were coming from underwater. Brittni blinked a couple of times, her blurred vision slowly becoming clear. To Brittni's right, she could make out a couple silhouettes of people in the room. To her left, she could see cabinets, a desk with a sink, disposable gloves, a rolling chair, and medical instruments. Brittni could recognize this place in any state of mind. She was in the Fright Zone infirmary. The voice that had spoken Brittni's name had begun sounding more audible, but still a bit faint.

"_She's awake? She's awake! Nurse, come see!" _the voice said, beckoning for a medical professional. A bright light was shining in Brittni's eyes so she moved her hand to cover her eyes. She lightly groaned.

"Here, let me get that for you." An even more familiar voice said. The source of the voice's hand then moved the light's beam out of Brittni's eyes. Brittni rubbed her eyes and her vision suddenly became more clear. She smiled when she saw who it was; Keirnan. He smiled back at her, "glad to see you come back to the land of the living, Brittni." Brittni tried to speak but only managed to let out a few coughs.

"Take it easy, Brittni, you're safe now. You've been out of it for quite a while. We weren't sure when you were going to get out of this coma." Keirnan said, optimistically. Brittni shuddered and rubbed her eyes a little more. With all of her effort, Brittni managed to speak.

"Keirnan… I'm glad to see you." Brittni said coughing a few more times. She cleared her throat then continued, "but… you said I was in a coma? Keirnan, what happened?" Brittni asked, trying to lift herself up. Keirnan gently pressed on Brittni's shoulders, motioning for her to lay back.

"Easy. Take it a little bit at a time, Brittni. We'll get to that. Your body just got over major shock." Keirnan advised. Brittni sighed and laid back, relaxing her muscles. Keirnan walked towards the cabinets and opened up a filing cabinet, taking a medical record out. He then went on to explain what happened.

"Long story short, you've been in a coma for about two weeks." Keirnan began. Brittni's eyes went wide, and her mouth agape. She shuddered and was about to speak before Keirnan held up his hand, palm towards her, "let me finish. Sorry, I know that this is a lot to take in, but I'll explain. About an hour after you sent that distress signal from your radio, Brett and a few other soldiers managed to find you unconscious. They carried you back here, and we immediately set to work. We found that you had been injected with propofol and stung by a giant wasp. The two chemical compounds found in both sources, coalesced, and induced your coma… That, and the inhuman amount of stress you've been through the last few weeks." Brittni was speechless. She turned her head away from Keirnan and just stared at the ceiling. Keirnan went over towards the cabinets, sat down on the rolling stool and clasped his hands together. Both were silent for a few moments until Brittni turned her head to Keirnan to speak.

"Two weeks…?" Brittni muttered. Keirnan nodded, slowly.

" I'm afraid so, kiddo." Keirnan said.

"I need to hug that brother of mine when I see him." Brittni said, smiling. Keirnan smiled, seeing her snapping back to reality. Brittni then inquired, "where is Brett, anyway?" Keirnan put his right hand to his chin and began rubbing it.

"Ah, Infiltration Saboteur, Brett. Quite a proud promotion. Currently, he's preparing for a mission in the Kingdom of Snows. I don't know the details, but you can ask him as soon as I discharge you." Keirnan said in reply. He stood up from the stool and walked over to a computer, then continued, "I hate to say this, Brittni, but you've missed quite a lot. In the last couple of weeks, the Rebellion has been halting the Horde's advances. The Horde has lost their control of Plumeria, and they had to retreat from their siege on the Sea Gate in Salineas." Keirnan stood up and walked over to lean against a cabinet and folded his arms, "the Horde did have a close victory with Thaymore. There was a princess they hadn't seen before that decimated much of the strike team. Despite that, the Rebellion did retreat from Thaymore." Brittni perked up when she heard Keirnan speak of the princess.

"What did the princess look like?" Brittni inquired, staring intently at Keirnan. Keirnan rubbed his chin for a moment then walked over to the computer and typed a few characters into it. Keirnan moved out of the way, and Brittni was able to see the image portrayed on the monitor. Brittni looked closely and her eyes widened, greatly. Her lip quivered upon registering in her mind who the princess was.

It was Adora.

Keirnan looked over at Brittni, noticing her captivation towards the screen.

"You know her or something?" Kerinan asked, jokingly. Without looking away, Brittni responded.

"...Something like that." Brittni replied, gazing intently at the screen. It was definitely Adora; well, Adora transformed into her princess mode. In this image, Adora was wielding the sword and using it to slice a tank's turret clean off.

"Her name is She-Ra, supposedly. Princess names are odd, aren't they? At any rate, she's incredibly powerful and dangerous. If you see her, she won't hesitate to use that sword of hers against you. You can see what she's doing to that tank's turret." Keirnan said, turning his head to the screen, "and she's one of the major factors of the Rebellion defending and reclaiming their land." While Keirnan was giving his rhetoric about She-Ra, Brittni had gone into deep thought, slowly tuning out Keirnan's voice.

_"Adora… what are you doing? Did they brainwash her? No… when she turned into that… princess, she was in command of her faculties…" _Brittni thought to herself. Slowly a scowl appeared on her face. She was suddenly feeling irate, _"Adora, how could you do this? Why are you helping the Rebellion?!" _She then posed this next question in her mind, _"And how could you leave me?!" _Brittni thought as her breathing became more irritated and audible. Keirnan took notice, turned his head to Brittni and saw the red that was slowly building in her cheeks.

"Brittni…? Is something wrong?" Keirnan inquired. Brittni looked at Keirnan, and tried to calm herself down.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm fine. I just, wow. I can't believe one princess is able to create this much chaos." Brittni said, hiding her emotions. Keirnan knew that that wasn't what she was really trying to say, but wanted to give her a break from all the afflictions she had suffered since Elberon. He simply nodded.

"Right. Well, at any rate, your vitals are all in the green… Except your stress, which is in the yellow. But after what you've been through, I'd say that's a win. But, you're clear to leave. Take a few days off, clear your head. Nurse's orders." Keirnan said, winking. Brittni forced a smile and got up from the gurney. For a moment she started walking until she heard a chuckle from Keirnan.

"I think you're forgetting something." Keirnan said, looking away. Brittni turned back and cocked her eyebrow at Keirnan.

"Forgetting wh…-" Brittni started before patting herself down and realizing that she was still in a patient gown. Her cheeks turned fire hydrant red, her eyes widened, and her lips quivered. Suddenly, she shouted, "DON'T LOOK AT ME!" Brittni shrieked. Keirnan, already looking away tried to speak.

"Brittni, I'm not look-" Keirnan started before being interrupted.

"Where's my clothes?!" Brittni demanded, backing into a corner, trying to pull the gown behind her. Keirnan, opened the cabinet he was looking at and pulled out a change of Brittni's clothes. It was the medical version of a Horde uniform, the only difference being that it had a red cross on the shirt, white pants, and more pockets for medical instruments. Keirnan was about to take the clothes to Brittni when she halted him.

"You're looking!" Brittni accused. Keirnan tried to look away.

"Brittni, I can hardly bring you these clothes-" Keirnan protested.

"Just leave them on the gurney!" Brittni snapped. Keirnan put the clothes on the gurney, and started towards the exit.

"I guess I'll just leave then. But you know, I changed your diapers-" Keirnan started joking before being interrupted for the final time by Brittni.

"Out!" Brittni commanded. Keirnan quickly vacated the room, chuckling under his breath. Once he left, Brittni couldn't help but giggle at the scene that had just played out. Despite the embarrassment, it's the most light hearted situation she had been placed in, in a long while. She grabbed the clothes on the gurney and began dressing. As she did, she began considering everything that was going on.

_"Two whole weeks… what could I have missed…? Apparently the Rebellion is starting to get its act together. All thanks to…" _Brittni sighed before finishing her thought, _"She-Ra…" _Brittni had finished putting her pants on and then threw on her shirt. As she was putting her boots on she began thinking of Oracle. Brittni wanted to go talk to her again, but she was also feeling… resentful towards her. After all, it was Oracle that lead Brittni to the Rebels. Because Brittni heeded that counsel, she ended up being comatose for two weeks. If she had been awake, perhaps she could have stopped Adora from helping the Rebellion. Or if nothing else, she could have helped with the Horde's conquests against the Rebellion. Then there was Adora. Brittni was filled with disgust when she thought about Adora. At the same time; although Brittni felt resentment and disgust towards her, she also felt curiosity and confusion. Brittni let out a stifled groan of anger as she thought of Adora.

"_She left us… I mean… I've been questioning the moral ambiguities of everything, but I would never just… just leave the Horde like that!" _Brittni thought to herself, angrily. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she too had those questions, but just didn't act on it. Brittni was still loyal to the Horde, but she was still utterly disconcerted about the moral implications from each side. She's heard of both factions committing atrocities, but she still didn't know the answer to the question that has been haunting her these last few weeks:

Which side was right?

For the moment, Brittni just wanted to be at peace. She pushed these thoughts in the back of her mind to muddle over later. She finished lacing up her boots and exited the room. As she walked down the hallway to get to the front room of the clinic, Keirnan had just exited a patient's room. Brittni stopped in her tracks, a few feet away from him. Keirnan smiled.

"Ah, I see you're decent, now." Keirnan said, chuckling. Brittni rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeah. Thanks for patching me up, Keirnan." Brittni said, gratefully. She then started rubbing her left shoulder with her right hand and added, "sorry I kinda freaked out back in there." Brittni said, bashfully, chuckling with him. She walked over to Keirnan and embraced him. Although she didn't realize this was going to happen; for that moment, Brittni was finally able to release all of her emotional burdens that she had been carrying for so long. She started sobbing into Keirnan's shoulder. Keirnan held her tight, calmly shushing her. For a few minutes, neither person said anything. Brittni just continued crying. At one point, one of the other nurses tried to call for Keirnan, but he just held up his hand and waved it, dismissively. After a little while, Brittni sniffled and pulled away from Keirnan. Her cheeks and eyes had become puffy from all the crying, but inside, she felt as though a backpack filled with bricks had finally been thrown off her back. She smiled at Keirnan, and he returned the smile. He bent over and kissed her forehead.

"Like I said, Nurse's orders. Take a few days off. And, I hope you remember that I also serve as a mental health nurse. If you want to talk, I'm available twenty four seven." Keirnan said, handing Brittni a washcloth Brittni chuckled and rubbed her eyes with the washcloth, then handed it back to Keirnan. She then nodded.

"Thanks, Keirnan. I'm glad we were placed in your care." Brittni declared. Keirnan grinned, happily.

"The pleasure has always been mine. Now, go see your brother. He's at home, packing. I'm sure he's dying to see you." Keirnan advised. Brittni smiled, nodded, and waved goodbye as she exited the clinic.

As Brittni made her way to her home, she walked through the main chamber that lead to all the living quarters. As Brittni traversed through the chamber, she heard stifled gasps and chattering about her as she walked. Like before, when she and Brett were named heroes at the Siege of Elberon, Brittni felt a little overwhelmed, and frankly, anxious. She picked up the pace, heading into the corridor that lead to her quarters. As she entered, she saw Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle chatting it up near the front door of her quarters. Her mood brightened upon seeing her friends. She trotted over to them, waving her hand as she went over.

"Lonnie! Rogelio! Kyle! It's great to see-" Brittni started before Kyle ran over to her and wrapped her in a hug.

"Oh! Brittni, we were so worried! We're so glad you're home!" Kyle beamed as he embraced her. Brittni's eyes went wider than a tree from the Whispering Woods. Lonnie and Rogelio stood a few feet away, mouths slightly open. Because of the silence, Kyle quickly broke away from the embrace and started scratching the back of his head, chuckling nervously.

"Uh… yeah, it's, uh, great to be back. Thanks, Kyle." Brittni said, awkwardly, forcing a smile. Lonnie moved towards Brittni, pushing Kyle out of the way.

"Agh! Oof!" Kyle yelled as he hit the wall then collapsed onto the ground. Before Brittni could comment on that silly exchange, Lonnie put her hands on Brittni's shoulders and spoke.

"Brittni! Honestly, we are happy to have you back. What happened to you, girl?! And what happened to Adora?! Give us the deets!" Lonnie inquired, excitedly. Brittni chuckled.

"Honestly, Lonnie, I don't think you'd believe me even if I told you…" Brittni said, sighing, "basically, I saw Adora sneaking out and felt like I should follow her… so, I did. We were walking and got ambushed by a couple of rebels… we got loose but we were all attacked by some kind of… giant spider." When Brittni mentioned the spider, Lonnie took her hands off Brittni and stepped back a couple of feet. Kyle and Rogelio gazed at Brittni, uneasily. Brittni smirked, amused by their reactions. When it was silent, Brittni waited a few seconds and then rapidly raised her hands up in a claw pose.

"ROAR!" Brittni yelled. Kyle yelped in fear and fell backwards onto his bottom. Brittni, Lonnie, and Rogelio started laughing like hyenas. Kyle started chuckling, nervously. After a minute or so of laughing, Brittni told the rest of the story, avoiding talking about the sword, and modifying the story of the spider. She basically said that they killed the spider and right after, the wasps attack, striking Brittni. The group was commenting on Brittni's story until they were interrupted by a familiar voice. A whoosh was sounded and the front door to the Twins' quarters opened up, and out stepped Brett, sporting his combat engineer armor.

"Y'know," Brett started, slowly walking towards Brittni, moving the trio out of the way, "that is one heck of a story, but you forgot the best part: When I totally saved you from dying." Brett said, standing in front of Brittni, grinning. Brittni jumped up and wrapped her arms and legs around Brett, embracing him tightly. Brett started laughing as he patted Brittni's pack.

"Alright, alright, sis, hugs and all that. I missed you, too." Brett said, amused. Brittni let go of her embrace and let herself down. Brett turned to the other Horde soldiers, "you three mind if I get a chance to talk to my sister?" Rogelio saluted Brett and grabbed Lonnie and Kyle, hoisting them both over his shoulders.

"Ah! Rogelio! Let me down you oversized iguana!" Lonnie yelled as Rogelio carried them away.

"Bye, Brittni!" Kyle yelled excitedly as they turned a corner out of the hallway. Brittni giggled and Brett chuckled.

"You know he's totally into you, right?" Brett teased as he turned back to Brittni.

"Ugh, I wish people would stop saying that." Brittni groaned as she walked into their quarters. She took a seat on the couch and stretched out on it, "oh my gosh… you have no idea how much I missed this rundown couch." Brittni said, jokingly. Brett stood by the doorway, smiling with his arms folded. Britnit tilted her head towards Brett.

"What?" Brittni inquired.

"I'm glad you're okay." Brett said, happily. He then walked over to the lounge chair and sat down across from Brittni, then asked, "Brittni, you didn't tell them the whole truth, did you?" Brittni blinked a few times. She knew there was no use trying to lie, so she simply sighed and shook her head.

"Adora is… She-Ra." Brittni admitted, looking away. Brett leaned back in the chair, folding his arms.

"Ya don't say." Brett replied, sarcastically. Brittni cocked her eyebrow. Brett then explained, "c'mon Brittni. The Rebellion gets some kind of hard hitting superweapon princess the same time that Adora goes missing. Said princess is somehow able to understand Horde tactics, objectives, and passcodes, flawlessly. That same princess is a blue eyed blonde just like, who? Oh, right, Adora." Brittni tilted her head and slowly nodded with a scrunched up face.

"Yeah, that about sums it up…" Brittni said, glumly. Brett nodded, and sniffled a bit. It was silent in the home for a few moments until Brett spoke.

"I really don't want to say it Brittni, but I feel it's necessary. I told you not to trust that crystal ball thing. Look what happened to Adora." Brett said, almost condemning. Brittni was taken aback by Brett's comment. She sat up on the couch and spoke.

"You think it's my fault that Adora joined the Rebellion?!" Brittni accused. Brett shook his head.

"No, I'm not saying it's your fault. What I'm saying is that you can't trust anything that has to do with magic. I'm assuming that something magical spoke to Adora, huh?" Brett asked. Brittni hesitated for a moment then slowly nodded.

"I mean… yeah, she said that that sword called out to her. That she felt a pull from it." Brittni said, admittedly. Brett nodded his head.

"And what if that had been you?" Brett challenged, "if you up and joined the Rebellion, how do you think I would feel? How Keirnan would feel?" Brittni held up her hands in protest.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Brittni sputtered out, "I'm not leaving the Horde! Geez. I'm not leaving anybody!"

"Again, I'm not accusing you, and I'm not trying to upset you. I'm just trying to get you to see perspective. I know that you've been… having questions about right and wrong. I guess I just don't want you to be confused and end up… leaving." Brett said, looking down. Brittni shuddered a bit. She got up and walked over to the lounge chair, and sat on the arm.

"Brett… I told you, I'm not leaving. Really." Brittni said, grabbing Brett's hand. Brett gave a half smile. Brittni smiled for a moment, and then it faded as she asked her next question, "but, Brett… theoretically speaking, if the Horde was… I dunno, in the wrong, would you leave it?" Brett stared at Brittni for a few moments, then looked away for another few. He was actually considering what Brittni was asking. He then turned his head back to Brittni and challenged her question.

"You know what's 'in the wrong,' Brittni? A gray, winged traitor that sold out our entire battalion and cost us the majority of our forces. You know what else is wrong? A mayor with a death trap castle, a princess that nearly killed our commanding officer… and kidnapped my sister." Brett stated, boldly. Brittni narrowed her eyes at Brett. Brittni scoffed

"She didn't kidnap… I mean, well, I guess… Ugh, that's an interesting way to avoid the question." Brittni said, annoyed.

"Look, Brittni, you just got back, I really don't want to debate philosophy with you. I don't know how to answer a question like that. All I know right now is that we're doing the best that we can with the information we have." Brett said as he stood up from his chair and walked over to his bag of supplies, "anyway… I'm getting ready for a mission. I really can't have this discussion right now. When I get back, we'll talk more about this. Is that okay?" Brittni was about to protest as she opened her mouth, but something inside her told her that it would be pointless. Brett was not ready to have this discussion. Instead she simply nodded.

"Alright… sorry that this was the first thing that we talked about. And now you already have to leave." Brittni said, frowning. Brett zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He then walked over to Brittni.

"No, you know what, I'm sorry, Brittni." Brett started, rubbing his eyes, "I'm the one that brought it up. I just got so worried when you left… I'm afraid that… that crystal ball thing lead you astray. Again, you're your own person. I'm not going to try to tell you how to live your life. But… please be careful about whatever that thing tells you." Brett said, putting his free hand on Brittni's shoulder. Again, not wanting to argue, Brittni simply bore a smile and nodded.

"Maybe you're right, Brett. I'll be careful." Brittni said, sincerely. Brett grinned.

"That's my little sister." Brett said, jokingly. Brittni scoffed and glared at him.

"What the-Brett! I told you before, you're not older than- Ugh. Get out of here." Brittni snapped, chuckling. Brett laughed and bent over to kiss Brittni on the cheek. This made Brittni smile and feel better. As he walked out, Brittni wondered exactly what to do with herself. She thought about going to see Oracle again in the Monumental Room, but at the same time, she still felt distrustful. Did Oracle just manipulate Brittni and Adora? Did she try to get them both to join the Rebellion? Brittni sighed.

"Maybe Brett was right… maybe I shouldn't trust Oracle… But, she didn't seem to be lying. Brett and I are basically lie detectors… But, how could Oracle allow this to happen?" Brittni sat silently for a few moments, then a thought crossed her mind. She didn't dare speak it out loud, in fear of Hordak's little pet spy.

_"What if Adora joining the Rebellion was the right thing to do?" _Brittni mulled around in her head. After she thought about it, she shook her head, _"No. No, I know I've been questioning the ethics of both sides, but I can't make that rash of a conclusion… at least not right now." _Brittni scolded herself. She let out a groan and stood up.

"Ugh, I need to eat something!" Brittni said to herself. She walked over to the kitchen and started making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Simple, yet filling. She gobbled it up rather quickly, as she hadn't had a real meal in so long. She also poured a glass of milk. Normally, she hated milk, but for some reason, she felt a deep craving for it. As she began sipping the milk, she received a transmission. She walked over to the keypad and accepted the call. A moment later, Octavia appeared on the monitor.

"Brittni! Glad to see you up and kicking." Octavia said, uncharacteristically friendly.

"Oh, uh, thank you, Captain Octavia." Brittni replied. Octavia nodded, and her tone became more resolute.

"Now, is your brother on his way to the vehicle bay? Catra is getting impatient." Octavia said. Brittni cocked her eyebrow at her.

"Catra? She's always impatient. Why does that matter now?" Brittni inquired taking another sip of milk. Octavia let out a slight chuckle.

"Right, you've been 'on the canvas' for the last couple of weeks. Yeah, Catra's been promoted to Force Captain." Octavia said. As soon as those words pierced Brittni's ears, she spat out the milk she sipped and started coughing, excessively.

"Brittni? Are you okay?" Octavia asked.

"Catra's been made Force Captain? I mean, Catra's a natural leader, so, good choice and everything... but how did she get Shadow Weaver ever to approve that?" Brittni asked, grabbing a washcloth and wiping up the mess she made. Octavia let out a slight chuckle.

"Heh, well, Lord Hordak was the one who approved it. At any rate, I'll let Catra know your brother is on his way. I'll talk to you later-" Octavia began before being interrupted by Brittni.

"Wait! Octavia. Um… what's this mission they're going on?" Brittni inquired. Octavia narrowed her eyes at Brittni.

"Sorry, Brittni, that's classified. However, if you want to know, you can ask Catra, herself." Octavia suggested. Brittni finished wiping up the milk and nodded at Octavia.

"Got it. Well, thanks Octavia. I'll see you around." Brittni said. And with that, the transmission shut off, and Brittni had some thinking to do. Even though she still felt a little indifferent towards Oracle, she still felt the importance of the instructions that Oracle had given. She was tasked with keeping watch over Adora and Catra and helping them restore balance; whatever that means, and to watch over her brother. Before Catra's squad all left for their mission, Brittni was going to go see them. She ran out of her room and down the corridor towards the vehicle bay, maneuvering and dodging everybody in her way. At one point she passed by Jenson; (the guard who was stationed around the Monumental Room,) and shoved him out of the way.

"Ow! Watch it!" Jenson protested. Brittni looked back while running.

"Sorry, Jenson! I'll take a look at you tomorrow!" Brittni huffed. She didn't pay attention to the rest of his protests as she made her way to the vehicle bay. When she entered, she had a quick recollection of when she snuck in there the first time. She walked through, sidestepping all of the workers loading up skifs, tanks, and air transports. Finally, after moving around a corner of a tank, about fifteen feet away, Brittni saw… Scorpia? In a dress? Brittni stared in awe at the scorpion-human hybrid wearing a majestic, sleeveless black dress At her waist were red, diamond shaped objects. Peering closer, Brittni could identify them as heat bombs that were disguised as diamonds to be able to be smuggled through security checkpoints.

"_Why do they need to smuggle heat bombs?"_ Brittni wondered. While Brittni was analyzing Scorpia's attire, Scorpia turned around, and somehow, immediately saw Brittni.

"Brittni!" Scorpia yelled, immediately dropping the box she was carrying.

"Hey! Watch the equipment, Scorpia!" Catra snapped, coming out of an air transport transport's cargo hold. She then took notice of Brittni, staring at her wide-eyed for a moment, then she hissed under her breath.

"Well, well. Look who came back from the dead." Catra said, leaning against the edge of the entrance to the cargo load. Before Brittni could reply to Catra, Scorpia ran over to Brittni and wrapped her in her world famous hug, lifting Brittni into the air.

"Ack! Scorpia…!" Brittni wheezed.

"Oh, Brittni, we were all so worried. I swear, I will never let you go again!" Scorpia declared, pulling Brittni even closer. Brittni wheezed out another breath of air.

"Scorpia… could you… please… let me… go again?" Brittni wheezed out. Scorpia gasped and quickly loosened her grip, letting Brittni down. Brittni immediately gasped for air.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Brittni. Sometimes I just can't help myself. You know what they say, these claws were made for hugging!" Scorpia declared, waving her claws in the air. Brittni stared at Scorpia cock-eyed, and slowly curved her mouth into a smile.

"Uh… heh, heh. You said it, Scorpia." Brittni said insincerely. Catra smacked her forehead and eyed Scorpia with impatience.

"Scorpia!" Catra shouted, "we need those supplies loaded up. Get to it!" Scorpia turned to Catra, smiled, and saluted her.

"You got it, wildcat! You can count on me!" Scorpia gushed as she grabbed the box and carried it into the cargo hold, passed Catra. Catra then slowly strolled towards Brittni. Brittni was admiring Catra's outfit. She was wearing a dark, burgundy-red suit that tapered down under the insoles of her feet. She also had an untied bowtie around her neck, atop a brighter burgundy collared shirt. Even though Catra was smiling at Brittni, Brittni still felt a bit nervous with Catra coming at her so close.

"Catra… I… I…" Brittni started trying to say something, but could not find the words. Catra stopped a few feet away from Brittni and folded her arms.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Catra asked, chuckling at her own joke. Brittni scratched the back of her neck and nervously chuckled, until she found the words she was trying to find.

"Catra, I'm sorry… I'm sorry I couldn't bring Adora back." Brittni said, sincerely. For all intents and purposes, Brittni did know how Catra felt about Adora. So when she apologized, she really did feel bad that she wasn't able to bring Adora back to her. However, Catra's response seemed to cause her heart to feel as though it had been punched. Catra's mouth curved downwards.

"What are you sorry for? We're going to bring her back right now. Well, at least she'll come back after we finish this mission." Catra said, cryptically. Brittni cocked her eyebrow.

"I… don't understand." Brittni said, confused. Catra's mouth curved back into a smile.

"Really? I said something that the great Observer Twin didn't understand? Wow, I feel like I need to write this down." Catra said, facetiously.

"What are you planning on doing?" Brittni demanded. Catra's smile went to a neutral state, and she started walking away.

"That's on a need-to-know basis." Catra said, callously as she started walking away towards the passenger side of the air transport. Scorpia overheard them and peeped out of the cargo hold.

"Oh, Catra, you know what we're doing. We're going to heat bomb Frosta's kingdom during the Princess Prom and capture Adora's friends, Glimmer and that... that guy with the bow... Oh, what's his name…" Scorpia bumbled out, while holding a claw to her mouth, trying to think of the name. Catra stopped dead in her tracks right next to the entrance of the cargo hold and slowly turned her head, seething with irritation towards Scorpia.

"Scorpia!" Catra yelled, with her fur raised in annoyance.

"No… no, it wasn't Scorpia, it was-" Scorpia started to say before Catra grabbed one of her claws, and used her free hand to point to the cockpit of the air transport.

"Stop giving classified information and get on the ship!" Catra commanded. Scorpia switched glances between Catra's face and her hand that was holding Scorpia's claw. Catra took notice and demanded, "what?!" Scorpia giggled.

"You're holding my claw." Scorpia said, trying to stifle her giggle.

"Get on the ship!" Catra growled. Brittni just narrowed her eyes at the bizarre situation that was placed before her. Scorpia obeyed and went to the cockpit through the cargo hold. Brittni's jaw dropped.

"You're gonna what?! Well, take me with you! I know how to fight Glimmer and Bow!" Brittni said, walking towards the ship. Catra held up her hand as Brittni began her walk.

"Because that worked so well for you last time?" Catra sneered. Brittni growled.

"Yeah! We were also attacked by a gigantic spider!" Brittni protested. Catra folded her arms.

"Listen, Brittni, we already have the maximum capacity limit for everyone going, and you don't even know the plan. I will *painfully* admit that you are a decent fighter, and your observational skills are useful. But we have Brett for that. Welcome back to the Fright Zone." Catra snapped as she walked back towards the transport cockpit. As Catra was stepping inside she took one last look at Brittni, "don't worry, you'll soon see your precious little friend Glimmer, again. Maybe you can finally get revenge for what she did to Dragstor." Catra winked as she hopped inside. Brittni stared in horror. Before Brittni could say anything else, she heard Brett calling. He was running towards the ship.

"Brittni? What are you doing here?" Brett inquired as he stepped up to her.

"Oh, uh, I… I just wanted to hug you goodbye." Brittni said, smiling. Brett grinned and wrapped her in a hug.

"Thanks, sis. I'll be back in a couple days!" Brett said as boarded the ship. Brittni stretched out her arm towards her brother, but was too late. She sighed and retracted her hand. As the ship's engines ignited and the propellers started whirling, Brittni took a step back and admired the transport's functions. Soon enough, the transport flew out of the vehicle bay, out of Brittni's sight. Brittni let out another sigh. She didn't know exactly what Catra and Brett were going to be doing out there, but she was scared for them. Oracle told her to keep watch, and so far, Brittni hasn't been able to do that for much too long. She wanted to get to the Princess Prom, but at the same time, she also wanted to talk to Oracle again. After all, it had been several weeks. There could be so much new information. With these two choices, Brittni could only ask herself:

_"What am I going to do?"_

**I haven't written one of these in a hot minute. The last three weeks I've been way busy. HOW ABOUT SEASON 4, THOUGH? That is easily the best season, yet :D I thoroughly enjoyed it. And honestly, after the whirlwind of emotions that Season 4 put us all through, I figured that we could all use a more lighthearted chapter. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :)**


	19. Chapter 19: Princess Prom-blem (Part 1)

Chapter 19: Princess Prom-blem (Part 1)

It had been over two weeks since Adora had joined up with the Rebellion. Obviously, at first, Adora had a strong abhorrence towards the Rebellion. After all, she had been taught her entire life that the Rebellion were nothing but a bunch of radical terrorists, exploiting their magic to cause suffering and pain to the world. She harbored this dogmatism until she had finally met some of the Rebellion. Although she had her disinclination towards joining the Rebellion, there were certain factors that had caused her capricious behavior. First, the sword transforming her into She-Ra, second, Brittni telling Adora about the soldier that was tortured by Dragstor, and the third and final factor that pushed Adora towards the Rebellion: the destruction of Thaymore. After helping the villagers evacuate and witnessing first hand the depravity of the Horde, she knew that joining the Rebellion was her only option. At first, it was quite a difficult adjustment. Between the posh atmosphere that permeated every being of Bright Moon and the joy and happiness that filled the majority of people she met, it was hard to grow accustomed to this new atmosphere. But after these couple of weeks, she really began settling in, especially with her new best friends, Glimmer and Bow. What she wasn't completely prepared for, however, was the night after the present: Princess Prom. Glimmer was in the same boat. Although, prior to that day, Glimmer had always gone to Princess Prom with Bow as her guest of honor, he was asked by the princess of Plumeria, Perfuma. For some reason, this seemed to crack open a slight rift between Glimmer and Bow. However, this was not Bow's doing, rather it was Glimmer's jealousy that opened that rift, and it was her anger that would widen that gap, beyond either of their comprehension. Glimmer was sitting on her bed and had begun writing her feelings in her journal:

_**Dear Diary, these last couple of weeks, I have begun to feel better about myself. Ever since that… incident at Elberon, I have been feeling so powerless, and frankly, useless. I re-read what I had written a few weeks ago. I remembered how I almost… hungered after power. Re-reading it almost scares me. That didn't seem like me at all. But, I think that's all in the past. I'm fine now. Ever since Adora; She-Ra joined the Rebellion, my hope began to come back. I don't think I have those power hungry feelings anymore. I mean, we've managed to begin rebuilding the Princess Alliance! We already have Perfuma, Mermista, Entrapta, and Mystacor under our belts. That gives us the edge over the land, sea, technology, and of course, magic. Things are actually really looking up for the Rebellion… But, things aren't looking up for Princess Prom. Bow told me that he was going to Princess Prom with Perfuma. I mean, this is a trivial thing to get upset about. It's just, I'm having such anxiety about this whole thing. What if he chooses to be friends with Perfuma over me? What if he forgets me altogether? **_As soon as Glimmer finished writing that last question mark, she started to feel irritable. Suddenly, her attitude changed, and she began writing more angrily:_** After all I've done for him… Done for this alliance… no, I deserve to go to prom with Bow. I can't let Perfuma take him away from me. She doesn't deserve him! I won't let her! **_Glimmer gasped as she finished writing that. Her hand shook like a tremor, the pen in her hand slowly falling onto the diary. Glimmer slammed the diary shut and shoved it under her bed.

_"What is going on with me…?" _Glimmer wondered as she sat there, shaking on her bed. She took a deep breath. _"No… no, I'm fine. I can't let this ruin Princess Prom. I... I need to go take a walk." _As Glimmer started walking towards her door, Adora opened it.

"Glimmer! Glad you're here, I have this whole Princess Prom thing figured out!" Adora said, bubbly. Before Glimmer could respond, Adora pulled her out of the room to show her, her plan for Prom…

_Meanwhile, in the Horde air transport, embarking towards the Kingdom of Snows…_

There was a cold wind that was being deafened by the roar of the air transports engines and the snow pounding against the armor of the transport. Inside the air transport, there were four seats, two on each end of the passenger hold, facing each other. Scorpia was piloting the transport, Lonnie and Kyle sat next to each other across from Brett. Brett sat there, folding his arms, listening intently to Catra's plan. Catra had been standing at the entrance to the cockpit for the three to listen to her. Brett was to infiltrate the Kingdom first, incapacitate some guards, steal their uniforms and bring them back to Lonnie, Kyle, and Brett, himself. They then were told to pose as guards. Lonnie and Kyle would be near the weapon vault in order to obtain She-Ra's sword. Brett, with his observation power, would pose as the castle's Keep Sentry, in order to get a feel for the keep's architecture, layout, escape routes, and most importantly, support beams. The main objectives were simple: 1. Steal She-Ra's sword, rendering her powerless. 2. Abduct Princess Glimmer, and Tech Master Bow. 3. Detonate charges on the support beams to cover their escape, and hopefully, eliminate any princesses in the area, Frosta, especially. Once Catra finished speaking, she sat down next to Brett.

"You know…" Catra started, folding her arms and looking at Brett, "this is going to be a fitting revenge for the both of us. I mean, you get to abduct the one that sold your teams out to Elberon, and I get to take from Adora what she took from me…" Catra said, cryptically. Brett looked over at Catra, nodding.

"Yeah… but, I'm not doing this for revenge, Catra. This is just another mission that's going to help us win this war." Brett said, candidly. Catra smirked.

"Oh, please. You're telling me that you don't have even a little bit of a personal vendetta against that sparkly, oversized fairy? You know, the one that nearly killed Dragstor, turned Adora against us AND kidnapped your sister." Catra said, shrewdly. Hearing about his sister getting kidnapped struck a nerve with Brett. His irritation was present in the veins that started to bulge around his neck, and the heavy breath he had started exhaling. Kyle and Lonnie started feeling nervous upon seeing Brett's sudden mood change. Brett just looked away.

"How long until we get there…" Brett demanded, coldly. Catra smiled, devilishly, knowing she had gotten him motivated. Scorpia, however managed to kill the mood with her upbeat charm.

"Don't you worry there, Brett, we're just about to land!" Scorpia said, jubilantly. Catra raised her hand to her head and started rubbing it, then walked into the cockpit to take a look outside. They surely were in the Kingdom of Snows. Although it was getting late in the evening, there was still enough sunlight to admire the beauty of the Kingdom. Home after home glistened like a freshly polished diamond, as though they were made of glass. They were not made of precious stones, rather, they were made with enchanted ice, courtesy of the former Queen of Snows. Catra narrowed her eyes at the Kingdom.

"All it would take is one little fire to virtually destroy this kingdom…" Catra muttered. She then pointed to the landing zone near the kingdom's capital, the Ice Palace. Scorpia began her descent down to the landing pad. Once they landed, everyone onboard began their departure. Brett, Lonnie, and Kyle, posing as the help, began unloading suitcases filled with plastic explosives and other equipment. Because of the material the explosives were made of, they would easily make it passed any metal detector. While the trio were unloading, Scorpia and Catra exited the aircraft and were greeted by a ternary of guards. The guards were dressed in blue overcoats, black boots, and some kind of armored mask that covered the top half of their face. They wielded spears that doubled as energy projectiles. The one in front stepped forward and spoke.

"Hail, princesses, my name is Gerard. I am the captain of the guard, of her Highness, Princess Frosta." Gerard said, sternly. Scorpia gave a courteous bow while Catra stood there, folding her arms. The captain took notice of this, and looked upon Catra with condemnation, "I can see that you're the princesses' guest." He said, scoffing. Catra glared at him and hissed under her breath. Gerard cleared his throat and continued, "at any rate, you will be honored to stay in the guest house adjacent to the castle. Come along." And with that, the Horde infiltration team followed Gerard to the guest house, placing their suitcases inside. Like the Ice Palace, the guest house was also made of some kind of enchanted ice. Somehow, within the interior, there was some kind of a temperature regulation. Scorpia and Catra entered the room, admiring the glistening fractals that brought a natural decoration to the room. Gerard and the two guards were standing by the doorway. Gerard held out his hand. Catra eyed his hand, suspiciously.

"What?" Catra demanded. Gerard grinned.

"It is a tradition that we receive… a little compensation for our escort and hospitality." Gerard said, chuckling. Catra narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, then smiled devilishly.

"Oh, of course." Catra started, feigning humility. She then flexed her claws and continued, "here's your payment!" Catra then ran at the man and swung her claws across his open hand, slicing his open palm. Blood began pouring out as Gerard let out a shout of pain and gripped his clawed hand with his other one. Catra then grabbed him by the neck, her claws digging into it, and slammed him onto the floor, inside the room. The blood seeped out of his head, indicating his death. One of the guards brandished her spear, pointing it at Catra. She was about to plunge it into Catra when Scorpia reacted first. Scorpia grabbed the spear with her claw, and pulled it, along with the guard, inside. The guard tried to pull the spear away, grunting as she tugged. With a flip of her tail, Scorpia, swung her stinger right into the guards back. The guards eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed onto the floor. The third guard started shuddering and slightly whimpering. He was about to run, when Brett, Lonnie, and Kyle stood in his way. Brett cocked his arm back and gave the guard a right hook to the head, instantly knocking him out.

"Way too easy." Brett affirmed, flexing his fingers back and forth. Lonnie and Kyle grabbed the incapacitated guard and dragged him into the room. Catra smirked.

"Alright, get them restrained and get their uniforms, we're gonna need to move fast so nobody gets suspicious." Catra said, quickly. Brett and Lonnie nodded and went to work removing the uniforms. Kyle stood by, nervously shaking. Catra eyed him with disapproval. She marched up to Kyle and pointed at Gerard's corpse, then continued, "and Kyle, clean up this mess." Kyle looked at the mess and whimpered. Catra got more into his face and asked, menacingly "Is there a problem?" Kyle shook his head.

"Uh, n-no F-Force Captain Catra!" Kyle replied, nervously. He ran to the bathroom within the guest room to grab sponges and cleaner. Meanwhile, Brett and Lonnie put their uniforms on and Kyle returned to clean. Scorpia pulled out rope from one of the bags, and Catra went to tying up the two guards. Scorpia grabbed the corpse of Gerard and tossed him into the closet. After Catra finished binding the other two guards, Scorpia dragged them into the bathroom and locked the door.

"Well, now that that's taken care of, let's go give the princesses a prom they'll never forget." Catra said, smiling devilishly.

It was getting dark so Brett, Lonnie, and Kyle quickly made their way into the Ice Palace's ballroom to perform some reconnaissance. As they entered, Brett took a good look at the palace. It was an extraordinarily big building. Inside there were servants dressed the same as the guards, setting up for the ball. Every single thing, like every other piece of architecture in the kingdom, was made of that enchanted ice. To the front of the group was a staircase that lead down to the main chamber. To the sides above the main chamber stood incredibly tall pillars that acted as support beams. Brett took a good look at the support beams. He marched over to one and felt the temperature on it.

"Hmm… -8° Celcius…" Brett muttered to himself. He then turned to Lonnie and Kyle, "okay, Lonnie, go to the weapons lockup and see if you can find a way in. When Adora gets here, she'll most likely bring her sword." Lonnie nodded and started walking off. Brett then turned to Kyle, "Kyle, try to blend in with the workers here. See if you can get into the kitchen and observe guard behavior over there." Kyle nodded and started heading towards the bathroom. Brett smacked his forehead and cleared his throat. Kyle looked back, confused. Brett then impatiently pointed to the left.

"Oh! Sorry." Kyle said, chuckling nervously, and heading towards the kitchen. Brett shook his head and continued his observation. He saw the guards patrolling at a steady interval of about five minutes for each checkpoint. They travelled in groups of two. He then looked around to see potential escape routes if the Horde soldier's way were blocked off from the front. While getting lost in the middle of this observation, Brett was interrupted by a rather annoyed, adolescent voice. He turned towards it to find a little girl, possibly around the age of ten, glaring at him with severe irritation. She wore a blue overcoat like everyone else, but also white pants, matching blue boots, and sported a short blue haircut. Her arms were folded until she yelled, opening her arms widely in anger.

"What are you doing standing around?! There is a massive amount of work to be done, and we don't have a lot of time! Get to it!" the little girl miffed. Brett blinked his eyes a couple of times at her in disbelief. This action annoyed the little girl even more, "what are you, deaf?! You will obey your princess! Now go!"

_"That's the princess? She's like, ten!"_ Brett thought to himself. Nevertheless, not wanting to blow his cover, he simply bowed and went on his way. As he moved around, he was planning out exactly how they were going to perform this operation. However, as he moved around, he was once again harassed by Princess Frosta.

"Where do you think you're going?! You're needed in the kitchen! I don't know what happened, but some idiot managed to find himself in there and ruin a fifth of the appetizers!" Frosta barked. Brett was starting to become irritated by the little girl, but managed to shake off his impatience towards her. Though, he had found new impatience when he had heard of the 'idiot' in the kitchen; most likely Kyle. Brett made his way into the kitchen and sure enough, he found Kyle on the floor, covered in hors d'oeuvres. Brett simply shook his head as Kyle smiled at him, nervously. The other cooks were too busy to pay any mind, but Brett went over and picked him up.

"Get yourself cleaned up, I'm going to radio Catra and Scorpia." Brett whispered. Kyle nodded and ran out of the kitchen towards the bathroom. Brett went to the back of the kitchen near the freezer. For a moment he wondered to himself, _"why do they have a freezer in an ice… oh, whatever."_ Brett then pulled out the radio and transmitted Catra.

"Catra, it's me, Brett, do you read me?" Brett asked.

"Oh, we read you loud and clear, buddy!" Scorpia responded. Brett pulled the radio away and cocked his eyebrow at it. He then shook his head and put the radio back to his ear.

"Err, yeah, hey Scorpia. Anyway, listen, I've got the support beams temperatures and the guards patterns memorized. I know exactly how we're going to pull this off." Brett said, waiting for a response. There was a sound of a slight struggle on the other end. Brett was about to say something until he heard Catra.

"Scorpia! Give me that!" Catra commanded.

"Sorry, wildcat!" Scorpia apologized. Brett rolled his eyes.

"Okay, talk to me, Brett." Catra commanded.

"Okay, the temperature of the beams are -8° celcius. What I'm thinking is that we set the bombs to a simmered heat that will slowly burn through the beams, causing a steady collapse. When the guards go to check the beams, we'll have explosives ready to blow them and the support beams sky high. This will cause a panic, and in the confusion, we can make our escape. In that confusion, Scorpia can paralyze Glimmer and Bow, and we'll make it look as if we're bringing them to the infirmary. If we're lucky, this entire palace will collapse, and it'll be easy pickings the next time we send in a strike force." Brett declared, proudly. A devilish chuckle came from the radio, indicating Catra's approval.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder why I didn't like you before, Brett." Catra mused.

"Because you were jealous?" Brett facetiously suggested. For some reason that made Catra hiss in anger.

"Watch yourself, Infiltration Saboteur." Catra growled.

"Apologies, Force Captain." Brett replied humbly. Catra took a moment to regain her composure.

"But anyway, that's a great plan, I can't wait-" Catra started before being interrupted by Brett. Brett had just heard voices coming closer to his location.

"Catra, I gotta go." Brett quickly said, shutting off the radio. He was a bit too late, however, as the head chef and Princess Frosta had opened the door to the back. He quickly turned towards them. He was about to put the radio back in his pocket when Frosta snatched it from him.

"You! Your girlfriend can wait! You're supposed to be working!" Frosta yelled.

"My apologies, Princess-" Brett started before being interrupted by Frosta. She grabbed the collar of his coat and pulled his face close to hers.

"You will refer to me as, 'Your Highness,' got it?!" Frosta demanded into his face. At this moment, an ever growing rage was welling up inside Brett, nearing the top of his head. Again, not wanting to put the mission in jeopardy, he slowly nodded his head.

"Yes, Your Highness. Forgive my insubordination, I will get back to work immediately." Brett said, feigning humility. Frosta continued to glare, but let go of his coat.

"See that you do…" Frosta replied, indignantly. She then let the radio fall out of her hand and walked out. The chef clapped his hands at Brett.

"Okay, chop chop, we need those halibuts on the grill asap, go grab them." The chef said, walking away as well. Once Brett was sure they were gone, he let out an angry, stifled growl. He then picked up the radio and transmitted to Catra, again.

"...I'm going to kill that little girl." Brett muttered, coldly. After a few moments, Catra came onto the line.

"Good, you'll get your chance tonight." Catra replied, sadistically.

_ Later that night… _

The Princess Prom had begun a couple hours after the Horde's arrival, and the guests arrived in abundance. Lonnie had positioned herself in the weapon check area, waiting for Adora. Brett and Kyle, meanwhile were standing in the approximate area of Frosta's ice throne. Brett had been surveying the area, waiting for Adora, Glimmer, and Bow to arrive. As the guests arrived, Brett looked upon them with disgust. He had thought back to when he had arrived with the Specters into Elberon's castle. He remembered Dragstor's monologue about the aristocratic vagary that was the royalty of the Rebellion. The more that Brett had been fighting the Rebellion, and especially working with Catra, the more he became embittered towards them. Without turning towards Kyle, but speaking loud enough for him to hear, Brett spoke.

"Look at them, Kyle…" Brett started, calmly. Kyle turned his attention to Brett, "their clothing, their attitude… it's just so gaudy, so… pretentious. If ever there was a reason for this war, it would be to give the Rebellion and their conceited Princesses a big slice of humble pie." Kyle shuddered upon hearing what Brett had to say. Brett took notice and asked, "there a problem, Kyle?" Kyle looked down and responded.

"I mean… is that a reason to wage war on them?" Kyle asked, timidly. Brett scoffed.

"Don't be getting soft on me, Kyle. You weren't there to see what happened at Elberon." Brett replied, callously. Kyle just simply nodded. Brett continued, "anyway, stay here, I'm going to go do a quick patrol to reconnoiter the area." He started walking away before looking back at Kyle. Kyle gazed at him in confusion. Brett scratched the back of his head, then clarified, "reconnoiter means to make a militaristic observation of an area." Kyle still looked confused and Brett just groaned, walking away. Brett made the rounds of observing everyone that had walked in. All princesses, but no sign of the ones he was looking for. All of a sudden, Brett heard an overtly optimistic voice being directed at him, from above.

"Hiii!" the bubbly voice said. Brett immediately turned around and looked up to see a purple pigtail-haired woman scaling one of the support beams, waving at him. Brett cocked his eyebrow as he analyzed her features. Her attire looked to be in similitude of somebody operating heavy machinery. It consisted of heavy gloves, steel-toed boots, arm covers, a welding mask with red lenses, and a pair of overalls worn like pants. The shoulder straps were left loose over a white undershirt, which had been blotted with grease. For a moment, Brett didn't know whether to be cautious or fall in love. For a moment, Brett could do nothing but smile at the girl. She slowly let herself slide down from the support beam, and came face to face with Brett.

"Oh, um. Hello." Brett said, awkwardly.

"Hi! I was hoping you were one of the waiters with the tiny food, sorry to bother you." The girl said, beginning to climb back up. Brett narrowed his eyes at her and shouted.

"Hey, wait!" Brett protested. The girl stopped climbing and looked down as Brett continued, "what are you doing up there?"

"Oh, this is the perfect place to observe behavior!" The girl said, excitedly. Her response made Brett beam up with delight.

"Observe? Really, now. I, uh, am pretty observant, myself." Brett said, boastfully. The girl opened her mouth agape and let out a slight gasp as she slid down. Once she reached the ground she seemed to use her… hair to lift herself up.

"Observe?! Like a hypothesis?! Do you have a lab?! Or do any kind of science?!" The girl said excitedly as she used her hair to move closer to Brett. Brett had never seen anyone have prehensile hair before. This discovery caused him to yelp in nervousness, and fall backwards. Before he hit the ground, however, Entrapta's hair reached behind him and broke his fall. Brett switched glances between the hair and the girl's face. She looked at him concerned and asked, "something wrong?"

"Y...your hair…" Brett stammered out. The girl switched glances between her hair and Brett.

"Oh, yeah! It's prehensile, meaning-" the girl started.

"It is capable of grasping." Brett said, finishing her sentence, "if I had to guess, you had elongated motor neurons that extended all the way from your spinal cord all the way to your hair. Very impressive." The girl stared at Brett with a gleam in her eyes.

"You… understand how my hair functions? I've never met anyone that's even bothered to ask!" The girl said, all bubbly. She pulled Brett up to his feet. Brett smiled at her and got a good look at her.

"Hah, well you met one now. My name's Brett. I, uh, don't mean to pry… but that grease stain on your shirt; that's pertamina oil, right? I can tell by the color and density. If I had to guess, you build robots?" Brett suggested. The girl stared at Brett as though he were a ghost.

"W...wow, I've never met anyone that even knew there were different varieties of oil. How do you know all that?" The girl inquired. Brett chuckled.

"Well, I'm a mechanical engineer. I've built and maintained a lot of robots-" Brett started before the girl wrapped her pigtails around both of his shoulders and pulled him close.

"You're a mechanical engineer?! Where did you go to school?! What credentials do you possess?! Are you some kind of prodigy?! You've built robots?! Can I see them?!" The girl fired question after question. Brett let out a blank noise from his mouth, not knowing where to start answering the girl's questions. Before he could say anything, however, a dreadfully familiar voice echoed in his ears.

"Entrapta!" the voice had called out. He looked behind Entrapta to see Adora and Glimmer. The rage that Brett was feeling towards Frosta suddenly came back full force into his very being. The girl took notice of this and released him from her hair. Adora and Glimmer arrived a few feet away from them.

"S...sorry, was my hair hurting you?" The girl inquired of Brett. Brett quickly cooled down.

"Oh, no, no. I uh, I just remembered I have to tend to the snacks. Good meeting you, uh, Entrapta was it?" Brett inquired. Entrapta nodded, smiling. Brett then quickly walked away, heading towards the kitchen.

"Bye, Brett!" Entrapta said, gleefully. It was at that moment that Brett completely regretted mentioning his name. When Entrapta said his name, Adora narrowed her eyes at Brett from behind. For a moment she had believed Entrapta to be referring to the Observation Twin, but she quickly put that out of her mind, believing Brett to still be at the Fright Zone. While those three were conversing, Brett stepped behind a pillar, away from the guards and pulled out his radio.

"Catra, it's Brett. You read?" Brett inquired.

"Yeah. Did the _royalty_ arrive?" Catra asked. Brett grinned.

"So far, only Adora and Glimmer… Not sure where this archer is." Brett replied peeking out from the pillar. He scanned the area and found Bow walking with a tanned, blonde woman towards Adora and Glimmer, "scratch that, I have eyes on Bow. I'm going to go ahead and place the charges at the top, then work my way to the bottom." Catra chuckled, devilishly.

"Time to give the princesses a party they'll never forget…" Catra said, fiendishly. Brett then clicked the radio off and took another look at the Rebels.

"... And time to make you pay…" Brett muttered coldly to himself. Brett headed to the stairs to find a ladder to reach the tops of all the support beams. In order to do that, however, he had to also pacify the security. The security office had communication to every guard, so he wanted to send a message out for them to leave him alone while he set the charges. He made his way to the security office which was just above the weapon check. Once he made his way up the stairs he walked into a breakroom area, with a couch, television, refrigerator, and food processors. On the far side of the breakroom was the door to the security office. Brett eyed the refrigerator, suspiciously.

_"Seriously, do these people not understand how ice works?" _Brett thought to himself. In the room, there was only one guard present, sitting on the couch. Brett marched right up to him. The guard looked up at him with a blank stare.

"What?" The guard demanded. Impersonating Gerard's accent and voice, Brett spoke.

"We need security downstairs on the double! All the princesses are arriving, and we don't want any trouble." The guard gasped.

"Oh! Captain Gerard, sir! I, uh, I just started my break-" The guard started before being interrupted.

"Break, huh? How about I teach you the definition of break, if you don't get down there, NOW!" Brett yelled in his face. The guard shakenly saluted him and ran out of the room. Brett grinned devilishly then walked over to the door to the security office and gave it a knock. A moment later, he heard a voice.

"Password?" the voice demanded.

"Boom." Brett responded. The guard paused for a few moments

"Boom? We haven't used that passcode in-" The guard started before experiencing a great pain. Before the guard responded, Brett had taken ten steps back, then ran at the door, full force, plunging the ball of his foot right above the doorknob, breaking the door off its hinges and plowing into the guard. Brett walked on the door and saw another guard standing and staring in horror at Brett. The guard looked behind him and made a dash towards a button on the wall. Brett recognized that as an emergency alarm. The man raised his left hand to slam the button before Brett hurled a dagger, hitting the hand, and pinning it against the wall. The guard shrieked in agony, pulling at the dagger with his free hand. Just as he pulled the dagger out, Brett grabbed the guard's head and slammed it against the wall, successfully incapacitating him. Brett walked over to the other guard that was pinned under the door. He was also, obviously, unconscious. Brett lifted the door up and put it back in the frame. He then walked over to the microphone and sent out a message.

"To all security officers, this is Gerard. There will be a maintenance worker who will be checking all of the support beams to ensure the safety of the guests. Do not impede in his work. That is all." And with that, Brett let the microphone click off. He then grabbed the bodies of the two guards and shoved them into lockers, padlocking them shut. It was then time to proceed to the next part of the plan. Brett turned towards the security door when he saw something that made his heart pound out of his chest.

It was…

**What is it? What did Brett see?! WHAT COULD POSSIBLY FRIGHTEN BRETT, THE OBSERVER TWIN?! Lol, I know, but you don't. Find out next week! P.S. Thanks to Fiamma for the great title ;) And thank you for reading :)**


	20. Chapter 20: Princess Prom-blem (Part 2)

Chapter 20: Princess Prom-blem (Part 2)

It was…

Adora? Brett let out a quiet grunt as he saw her standing in the doorway. The door to the security room had fallen forward, letting a loud slam. All Brett and Adora could do was stare at each other, mouth agape. With quick thinking, Brett cleared his throat and gave his best accent of Gerard.

"Ah, apologies, miss. That door's hinges seemed to have melted. A consequence of living in a kingdom made entirely of ice." Brett said with a light chuckle. He then changed his tone to a more serious one and started walking towards Adora, "but I'm going to have to ask you to go back downstairs to the party-"

"Brett." Adora asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Brett stopped dead in his tracks and shuddered a bit.

"I, uh, sorry, miss? I think you might be confused-" Brett started before being interrupted, again, by Adora.

"I heard Entrapta. I saw you kick down this door. It's you Brett." Adora said, her tone becoming more threatening. She squared up her body in a fighting position then continued, "what are you and the Horde planning on doing here?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him. Brett folded his arms, scoffed, and looked away for a few moments.

"I was under the impression you didn't care about the Horde's affairs, anymore…" Brett replied coldly, moving his head back to her, glaring under the mask.

"I care about what evil the Horde is committing against my friends." Adora snapped.

"Your 'friends'?" Brett scoffed and chuckled a bit. His tone then became more irritated, "we were your friends, Adora. You turned your back on us, and you almost got my sister to turn against us, too!" Brett snapped back.

"I didn't do anything! Brittni is her own person! Anything she has been questioning about the Horde has been all her, and frankly, she's right to question! We've been brainwashed our entire lives to believe that the Rebellion is evil, but have you seen what the Horde has done?!" Adora demanded, slowly stepping towards Brett. Brett squared up his body.

"Oh, I've seen what the Horde has done… I've also seen what the Rebellion's done. I was in the thick of it when the Rebellion were trying to kill Brittni and me." Brett said, also walking towards Adora, "but, I think that we aren't going to get anywhere, debating morality…" Brett then pulled out a dagger, "shall we dance?" Adora glared at Brett and shouted, running at him full force. Brett ran towards her as well, brandishing the dagger in his left hand, ready to stab her. Just as he was about to drive the dagger, she grabbed his wrist and pushed it to his left while simultaneously raising her left leg to roundhouse kick his right oblique. Brett grinned, anticipating her kick. Right before her foot made contact with his oblique, he grabbed her leg and pulled it, causing her to lose balance, and fall backward. She let out an oof as she fell to the ground. Brett then switched the dagger's blade downwards and went to plunge it into Adora. Before that happened, Adora, with her free leg, kicked Brett's right ankle. He growled in pain as his right ankle gave out, forcing his right leg to his knee. With the hand that was gripping Adora's left leg, he pulled it further, sliding her across the room into a security desk. Brett grunted as he attempted to pick himself up and turned towards Adora.

"I knew you were going to move my dagger away and kick me. But you should know that I would anticipate that. After all, we grew up together." Brett said, bitterly. Adora did a kip-up right on her feet and squared her body up again.

"Brett, I'm not trying to fight against you! I'm trying to stop the Horde from killing everybody in Etheria off!" Adora snapped.

"I am the Horde." Brett growled. He then ran at Adora again with the dagger brandished towards her. As he ran, Adora lifted up her leg and pulled off her shoe, then hurled it at him. Brett held up his arms to shield himself from the shoe. Confused by this foreign tactic, Brett let out a slight exclamation.

"Whuh- Did… did you just throw a shoe at me?!" Brett demanded, moving the dagger out of the way. Adora growled and lunged at Brett. With the dagger out of the way, but still in his hand, Brett had no choice but to face the full bodyweight of Adora's motion, striking him.

"Oof! Get off!" Brett groaned, dropping the dagger. Adora went to give Brett a right cross as she was kneeling on him. Before it made contact, Brett grabbed her right hand and threw her off onto her back, towards the dagger. Looking to her left while on the ground, she saw the dagger and grabbed it, brandishing it at Brett as he picked himself up. She switched glances between the dagger and Brett. Adora let out a shout and plunged the dagger into the closest wall to her, breathing rapidly. Brett gazed at her action, curiously.

"What are you doing? Isn't fighting with blades your thing?" Brett asked. Adora let out a sigh.

"I told you. I'm not here to fight you, Brett; much less, kill you. I just want the Horde to leave the Rebellion alone." Adora said with conviction. For some reason, this actually struck Brett. While Adora had his attention, she continued, "Brett, please listen to me. I didn't leave the Horde out of a knee jerk reaction. I had really begun questioning the Horde's motives and actions. I'm sorry that I left so suddenly, and I'm sorry that you hate the Rebellion. I know that the Rebellion has wronged the Horde, but the Horde has been attacking neutral and civilian territory. I cannot stand by and watch innocent people get slaughtered!" Brett stood there for a moment in deep thought, digesting what Adora had just said. The tension in the room was magnified even greater by the silent communication that was being divulged between the locked eyes of two warriors with opposing beliefs. Despite their differing perspectives, Brett wanted to say something, anything and after the tension heightened, he was about to respond until his radio went off. Without taking his eyes off Adora, Brett picked up the radio.

"It's me." Brett spoke into the radio.

"Brett? Where are you?! Get down here now, we need those charge-" Catra began before Brett shushed her. Catra hissed into the radio, "did you just shush me?!"

"I'm not alone, Catra. I'd prefer not to divulge our plan." Brett replied. The radio was silent for a moment until a slight chuckle was heard.

"Hey Adora…" Catra muttered. Adora gasped.

"What are you two planning?!" Adora demanded. Brett held up his hand in a pausing motion.

"Hey, Catra, I'll be down in a minute." Brett said as he switched the frequency on his radio. He cleared his throat and changed his accent to match Gerard's, "guards, we may have a problem upstairs in the security office, send officers right away." When Brett clicked off the radio, a response, indicating that two officers were being sent, sounded in the radio. Brett smiled devilishly at Adora as she glared at him.

"Truce for now, and I call off the guards. Deal?" Brett asked. Adora choked on a groan then let out a sight.

"Fine. But whatever you're planning, I _will_ stop it." Adora threatened as she pushed passed Brett, exiting the security office. Brett chuckled and canceled the alert. He then went to a nearby maintenance closet right outside the security office, secured a ladder, then headed down to the party to begin placing the bombs. He set up the ladder to the first pillar and set the first C4. As he was doing this, he gazed upon the crowd. He looked at all the princesses that were dressed up, adorned with the finest jewelry. He let out a breathy groan, thinking once again on what Dragstor had said. But he also had another thought. The words of Adora started pervading his mind.

_"I know that the Rebellion has wronged the Horde, but the Horde has been attacking neutral and civilian territory…" _Brett shook his head as he descended the ladder and moved it to another pillar. As he climbed up again, he looked out at the crowd, Adora's words came back:

_"I cannot stand by and watch innocent people get slaughtered!" _Adora's voice again rang in his head. Brett let out another groan as he pushed the C4 onto the pillar. He looked at the crowd again. Even though they were a bunch of princesses that were not apart of the Horde, did they really deserve this attack? Were they innocent? Brett shook his head again and rubbed his head when he stepped off the ladder.

_"Why do I care about this… I know what they did at Elberon, Grimdale, and Moorstone… These rebels are nothing but scum!" _Brett debated in his mind. He let out a loud groan. Nearby, a couple guards were noticing Brett's odd behavior. One of them slowly approached him.

"Uh, you okay, buddy?" The guard inquired. Brett immediately turned towards the guard and waved his arm at him.

"I'm fine!" Brett barked at the guard. The guard was taken aback, blinking his eyes a few times. Brett realized what he had done and quickly played it off. He let out a couple coughs and lowered his voice, "oh, uh, sorry about that. I'm just a little sick, but you know what happens when we're short staffed for a big party like this." Brett said, rubbing the back of his neck. The guard eyed Brett suspiciously.

"What did you say your name was?" The guard inquired, rubbing his chin. Brett made a quickly thought of a fake name.

"Jerome… Jerome Zavalfsky." Brett said, awkwardly. The guard cocked his eyebrow at Brett before smiling.

"Jerome! Why didn't you say? Wow, that is nice of you to come on when you were sick. It's funny, don't you usually do waiting? Well, never mind that, carry on!" The guard said as he walked back to his post with the other guard. Brett let out a loud sigh of relief. He continued his mission, going to another pillar and climbing up. As he did, yet another voice came to his mind. This time it was his twin's voice.

_"That rebel soldier that was underneath the wardrobe…He told me that the Horde had killed his family… His friends. He said the Horde burned down his village 'just for existing.'" _Brittni's voice sounded in Brett's mind. Suddenly Brett began feeling a modicum of guilt. He let out a big sigh and began thinking:

_"Maybe not all of these people deserve to die… If I place a C4 at just a couple more pillars, the collapse will be a lot slower and more of them will be able to evacuate before getting killed." _Brett reasoned with himself, almost reluctantly, _"as long as we get Glimmer and Bow, that's all I care about." _

Brett went to the last few pillars and placed the last of the C4s. He let out a sigh.

_"I hope I know what I'm doing…" _Brett muttered to himself. While he was at the top of the ladder, he analyzed the room. Glimmer and Bow seemed to be having some kind of confrontation. Although he couldn't hear what they were saying, clearly they were getting impatient with one another. Brett grinned devilishly upon seeing that.

"Heh… separating themselves? They're making this way too easy." Brett said to himself as he descended the ladder. He wanted to keep a peak position, so he put the ladder into a nearby maintenance closet and made his way up the stairs to the eastern balcony. Once Brett arrived, he analyzed more parts of the room and saw Adora speaking to Princess Frosta.

"Oh, this is going to be great." Brett said to himself, chuckling. He couldn't hear what Adora was saying, but he heard Frosta when she began yelling.

"The snow peas and cookies are touching. Do it right!" Frosta yelled at the waiter bringing around hors d'oeuvres. Looking closer, Brett saw that the waiter was none other than Kyle. He growled upon witnessing Kyle being berated by Frosta. Suddenly, Brett's vengeful nature that was initially beginning to fleet away from came racing back.

"You'll get yours, princess…" Brett muttered to himself while glaring at her. He continued to analyze the room. Catra and Scorpia had already begun their plan of giving Adora the runaround. Brett chuckled at Adora frantically following Catra. He let out a slight groan, however, when he looked over at Scorpia who was busy engorging herself with the buffet. Brett pulled out his radio.

"Scorpia!" Brett said, stifling his frustrated voice.

"Oh, hrey Rett, oh, gawsh, 'ou 'otta 'ry zish 'ood!" Scorpia said, with a muffled mouth.

"Focus! We need those heat bombs set in just a few minutes. Also, I think I saw archer boy headed outside. Follow him." Brett commanded. Scorpia swallowed the last bit of food that was packed into her mouth.

"On it, Infiltration Saboteur!" Scorpia said, more coherently. For some reason, Scorpia accepting a directive that Brett ordered, gave him a sense of power. He grinned upon this feeling. Back to surveying the party, Brett did one last sweep. A certain, purple-pigtailed young woman caught Brett's eye. On a balcony overlooking the party, Entrapta was crouched on the railing. He shuddered, thinking that she might fall. Brett pulled out his radio.

"Catra, can you get to the western balcony? That'll keep Adora away from Glimmer." Brett asked.

"Already there." Catra replied. Surely, a few seconds after Catra spoke, Brett saw her appear on the balcony. Entrapta was leaning off the railing in order to get a better observation point at the party. However, at the expense of this vantage point, Entrapta began slipping. Brett let out a gasp and shouted into the radio.

"Catra! Quick, grab that girl!" Brett commanded. With a flick of her wrist, Catra grabbed Entrapta's overalls and pulled her back to safety. Brett let out an exaggerated sigh. He could hear Adora yelling in the background and saw her take Entrapta away from Catra. Catra got back on the radio and let out a nefarious chuckle.

"Gee, Brett, if I didn't know any better, I think you were actually concerned for that princess." Catra teased. Brett's cheeks turned red.

"N..no, I just didn't want her body to splatter all over the dance floor and ruin our plans." Brett snapped. Catra simply laughed at his protests and shut the radio off. Brett let out a sigh and scanned the area some more. He spotted Glimmer approaching Frosta near the table that was holding Frosta's ice sculpture. He smirked, believing Glimmer and Frosta's confrontation to be more volatile. He moved across the balcony towards the two princesses, hugging the railing. Once he was right above them, he was able to hear their conversation.

"Oh, Princess Glimmer, I was hoping to speak with you." Frosta spoke in a tone sweeter than Keirnan's pancakes. Upon hearing her complete transformation in attitude towards Glimmer, Brett's jaw dropped hard enough to break the floor beneath his feet. He was intrigued and continued listening.

"Really? Well, that's great to hear!" Glimmer replied, rather chipper. Frosta smiled and blushed a little.

"I hope you're enjoying the ball. I aimed to impress." Frosta said, rubbing her shoulders and looking away. Glimmer didn't quite pick up on Frosta's cues and simply smiled with her eyes closed.

"Well, it's definitely impressive. You should be proud." Glimmer said, reassuringly. Frosta let out a slight chuckle. Brett, meanwhile let out a groan.

_"Ugh, gimme a break." _Brett thought to himself.

"So, uh… that princess, Adora? Is there a particular reason you came with her? Is she your..." Frosta began inquiring before coughing at the last part of the question, "girlfriend?" Glimmer gazed at Frosta, mouth slightly agape.

"Wha? Oh, no, no. Adora and I are just good friends. I… actually wanted to go with my friend, Bow, but he ended up going with Princess Perfuma" Glimmer said, glumly and looking away.

"Pah, you should forget about him." Frosta scoffed, callously ignoring Glimmer's feelings. Glimmer narrowed her eyes at Frosta, as she continued to speak, "I'm just saying, a pretty girl like you should set your sights towards somebody a little more… blue." Glimmer's eyes widened again upon hearing Frosta's implication. Brett, meanwhile was ready to vomit. Glimmer chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head.

"Oh, uh… well, that's a really flattering thing to say, Frosta. Thank you." Glimmer started, chuckling nervously, "maybe we could hang out later? I mean, I'd definitely love to get to know you first." Glimmer replied, quickly.

"It's a date!" Frosta replied, excitedly, "for now, I need to start the first dance of the ball. Have fun with that!" Despite the cold permeating the atmosphere of this kingdom, Glimmer's cheeks were burning brighter than a tank's plasma cannon. Brett put a hand to his eyes and shook his head.

"_That might have been one of the most painful things I've ever had to witness…" _Brett thought to himself. Just then, the lights became dim and multicolored lights began spotlighting different areas of the dancefloor. Frosta then announced the beginning of the first dance of the ball. Suddenly Brett's radio went off.

"It's Brett." Brett muttered into the radio.

"Hey, it's Lonnie, I snatched the sword." Lonnie said. Brett smirked.

"Good work, Lon-" Brett was about to say before being interrupted by Scorpia

"Oh, wow! Great job, Lonnie. You know, this plan is really coming togeth-" Scorpia began saying before being interrupted by Brett.

"Scorpia…" Brett muttered.

"Oh, right. Sorry! Hush, hush. Anyway, I'm placing the heat bombs, and I think I saw that archer in the area.

"Good work, you two." Brett said. He then increased the channel to include Kyle, "okay, Lonnie, Kyle, make your way to Scorpia and get that archer. Get him aboard the ship. Catra's gonna make sure that Glimmer goes and finds him. Understood?"

"You got it, Brett." Said Lonnie.

"You betcha!" Said Scorpia. Everybody waited a minute for Kyle. No response.

"KYLE?!" Brett, Lonnie, and Scorpia screamed in unison. Kyle came onto the radio with a muffled mouth.

"Ohw! Sawwy. Diz 'ood ish amazhing!" Kyle said with a muffled mouthful.

"I know right?!" Scorpia chimed in.

"Kyle! Just get over here!" Lonnie yelled. Kyle audibly swallowed.

"Sorry! Coming!" Kyle said. And with that, the heat bombs began their slow melt of the pillars. Lonnie and Kyle grabbed hold of Bow as he was trying to report Scorpia's planting of the heat bombs, but was quickly incapacitated by Scorpia. They then brought him aboard the aircraft, and the rest of the plan was going smoothly…

that is until the unexpected guests showed up. A few minutes after the dance had started Brett had looked over to the entrance and saw two suspicious characters arrive. They were suspicious because they were down to their underwear, freezing. Brett looked closely and realized it was the guards that had been previously knocked out in the guest room.

"Oh, no…" Brett muttered as he saw them waving their arms around frantically. A couple more guards ran to them and threw blankets on them. From the distance, Brett could see that they were frantically explaining themselves to the guards. Brett switched his channel to the security channel to see if he could hear them. Suddenly an alert came onto the radio.

"Attention, all Snow Kingdom Security Officers, there has been a security breach. The one who has been masquerading as Captain Gerard is a phony." A guard was saying into the radio, "If you see him, arrest him immediately. He is known to be running with four others. Two are dressed as guards, two are-" Before the All-Point Bulletin finished, Brett quickly interrupted, so as not to reveal Catra or Scorpia's identity. He screamed into the radio as though he were being attacked.

"Hello? Officer?! Where are you?! Is the phony attacking you?!" Brett screamed harder in reply until he gave out a very faint answer.

"W...weapons check…" Brett wheezed out. He then heard an order for available security officers to head over the Weapons Check. Brett then quickly switched channels to the Horde.

"Scorpia, Lonnie, Kyle. I need your help with something." Brett said.

"What's up?" Lonnie asked.

"The two guards we knocked out managed to get free of their bonds and they let the rest of the security know that we infiltrated the place. I have a plan to give them the runaround, though. Lonnie, I need you to head to a nearby bathroom and start flushing toilets. Kyle, their sweep should take about ten minutes. After that, go to the kitchen and turn on a microwave or oven or something. Scorpia, stay with the ship. Everybody got it?" Brett said. Everybody repeated that they understood and went to their various stations. Brett then switched channels to the security officers.

"He's not in the weapons check!" He heard in the radio. He then switched to his team's channel.

"Lonnie, you at the bathroom?" Brett inquired.  
"Right here, Brett." Lonnie replied.

"Great, start flushing." Brett said. And with that, Brett merged the channels on the radio and put on his Gerard impression.

"Looking for me, you fools?" Brett asked in Gerard's accent.

"It's the phony!" A guard said on the radio. And after hearing the flushing, "he's in one of the bathrooms! All security teams search the bathrooms!" Brett chuckled and turned around. As he turned, he bumped into his prehensile-haired acquaintance.

"Whuh-ah!" Brett exclaimed as he fell backwards, almost falling off the railing. Entrapta gasped and grabbed him before he fell over. Unfortunately, his radio fell out of his hand down on the dancefloor, "oh, no…" Brett then muttered. Entrapta then pulled him off the railing onto his feet.

"Hey, Brett! Sorry I scared you. I was just noticing you were up here alone, and I thought I could… be alone with you?" Entrapta inquired, smiling at him. Brett started blushing.

"Oh, uh, Entrapta, that's really flattering, but, uh-" Brett began replying before being interrupted by a group of guards marching towards him. _"Oh, no…" _Brett thought to himself. Before he could react, the guards yelled out to him.

"You, guard! What's your S.O. Number?!" The guards demanded. Brett was glaring at them for a moment, then his scowl curved into a devilish grin. He then pulled off the coat he was wearing, revealing his combat engineer armor underneath. The guards gasped, then quickly brandished their halberds at Brett.

"Get behind me…" Brett muttered to Entrapta. Entrapta was stunned, staring mouth agape at the armor. She began analyzing it, quickly moving around it, touching it and admiring the features.

"Metalized iridium… built in armaments… very fascinating…" Entrapta muttered as she gushed over the armor. Brett and the guards widened their eyes in annoyance and fascination. One of the guards shook his head and ignited the energy in his halberd. Brett quickly noticed, grabbed hold of Entrapta and dove to the left. Entrapta gasped.

"Wow! Your reaction speed is almost inhuman! Can I run some tests on you?" Entrapta inquired. While still holding onto Entrapta, Brett rolled out of the way, towards the guards. He kicked the halberd of the guard that was firing at him. Letting go of Entrapta he picked himself up. The other guard, with his halberd already ignited, fired a shot, hitting Brett's right pauldron and knocking him backwards, several feet away.

"Oof! ...Ugh…" Brett muttered. Both guards then ran at Brett. Entrapta, not wanting them to hurt Brett, hurled her hair towards one of them, grabbing his legs. He quickly lost balance and fell forward towards Brett. As he fell, Brett simultaneously raised his leg, kicking the guy in the forehead, instantly knocking him out. The other guard was about to fire another shot at Brett until he raised the flamethrower that was built into his arm, letting it go full blaze at the guard. The guard screamed as his coat caught fire, quickly becoming the major, literal, spotlight. Brett then fired the flamethrower at the ceiling. As the flames licked the ceiling, the melted ice quickly strewn down and put out the fire on the man.

"Ahh!.. Oh, man, thanks bud-" The guard was about to say gratefully before being punched right in the face by Brett.

"Don't mention it…" Brett muttered as he flexed his knuckles. He then looked to Entrapta who laid there, with her lip quivering. Brett shuddered then slowly walked towards her with his hands up at chest level, "Entrapta, look, I can explain-" Brett started before she picked herself up with her hair and moved her body within inches of his face.

"Oh! That was amazing! Who was the one to build the armament in of your armor? Better yet, who built your armor in the first place?!" Entrapta excitedly inquired. Brett blinked a few times and let out a nervous chuckle.

"Uh… heh, that's… kind of a long story-" Brett began saying before he heard the sounds of simultaneous cracks. He immediately looked over to see the heat bombs fully melting the pillars. He ran over to the rails to see that Adora had been encased in some kind of enchanted ice. Catra was standing over her, most likely mocking her. Glimmer had already left, most likely going after Bow.

"Oh, no." Brett muttered. He then looked at Entrapta, "Entrapta, you need to go. Now! Get to whatever vehicle you took to get here. Hug the walls and you should stay out of the rubble that's going to fall from the ceiling." Brett said, putting his hands on her shoulders. Entrapta stared at him blankly. Brett let out a slight groan, "go! Now!" Entrapta gasped, quickly nodded her head, and ran towards the entrance, hugging the wall. Brett looked down and realized it was time. He pulled out the detonator. From the dancefloor, Catra looked up and nodded at him. Brett gave her a smirk.

"Boom." Brett muttered. As if saying the magic word, the C4's that had been placed on the pillars let out a deafening explosion that blew the tops. Suddenly, the enchanted ice rubble began collapsing from the ceiling. Panic ensued in the crowd. Although Brett didn't want to necessarily kill everyone, he couldn't help but grin devilishly at them for running away in trepidation. Frosta was trying to keep everyone calm, using her powers to stop some of the rubble from hitting the other guests. Catra had begun running towards the exit, with Adora, being recently freed from the ice, in hot pursuit of Catra.

"Time to make my exit." Brett said as he jumped from the railing and landed on the dance floor, splintering the ground beneath him from the shock blowout from his armor. He looked back to see Frosta's widened eyes. As he stood up and faced her, he gave her the meanest look of contempt. This caused Frosta's widened eyes to curve into a glare. Using some of the ice that had previously trapped Adora, that was to the right of Brett, she morphed it into jagged-edged icicles and hurled them at him. Brett quickly determined the velocity at which they were being hurled at him. He turned to the ice and brandished his flamethrower, quickly igniting the ice. The burst of flame managed to melt some of the ice, but he had to fall on his back to dodge the rest. Once he was prone, Frosta used her powers to wrap ice around Brett, encasing most of his body in ice. He grunted and growled, struggling to break free. He couldn't reach the igniting trigger on his flamethrower. Frosta slowly walked towards him, continuing to use her powers to repair the pillars and ceiling. Once she was above him, her glare turned into a scowl.

"You think you can just come in here, ruin Princess Prom and destroy my kingdom?!" Frosta demanded. Brett simply gave her a stoic, blank expression. Suddenly his mouth curved and opened into a grin and he began laughing maniacally. Frosta took a step back and shuddered, maintaining her scowl on him. Suddenly Brett's laughter broke and he glared at her.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Brett declared, boldly. He then revved up the chainsaw on his other bracer and cut through the ice. The following action that happened, despite the rapid spinning motor of the steel teeth, seemed to happen in slow motion. As the saw broke through the ice, the motion of the saw attached to Brett's wrist continued to move until the teeth made contact with Frosta's stomach and began ripping it apart. Brett gasped and quickly pulled back the saw, but it was too late. For a brief moment that felt like an eternity, the two enemies' eyes peered into each other, as if reading one another's soul. Aside from their spiritual encounter, their lips began quivering. Frosta looked down at her stomach and saw the blood pouring out. She coughed out even more blood and began shuddering until she fell backwards. Brett continued to stare wide-eyed at Frosta. He then remembered, however, that he had to get out of there. He narrowed his eyes at Frosta and began sawing his other limbs out of the ice, then used the flamethrower to melt the rest of it. As he stood up, he gazed at the princess that was lying in a pool of her own blood. Although he felt guilty at first, he remembered what he had been taught and believed his entire life. With a scoff and no remorse, Brett made a simple conclusion.

"One less princess in the world… One less evil in the world." Brett said, rather coldly. He then ran towards the entrance. As he made it to the entrance, he looked back once more and saw a couple of medics running over to treat Frosta. They put her on a stretcher and carried her away. He was thinking about running back to finish the job, but a large amount of rubble fell before him and he dove away. It really was time for him to go. Brett made his way through the chaos of the crowd running towards their various vehicles, and just away from the Ice Palace in general. Shortly after, Brett had found the air transport. It was parked near a cliff's edge up a snowy hill. The railing on the edge of the cliff had been worn off. As he ran towards the transport, he saw Lonnie and Kyle about to board it.

"Lonnie! Kyle-" Brett began shouting before Glimmer appeared behind them both. Brett stopped in his tracks and shouted, "look out!" But it was too late. Glimmer grabbed Kyle's shoulder and threw him behind her. Lonnie pulled out her energy baton and was about to fire it at Glimmer, but Glimmer generated that purple aura around her right fist and punched Lonnie, sending her flying into the ship. Glimmer began marching into the ship when Brett's shouting stopped her.

"You…" Brett started, pointing his finger at Glimmer. She stopped and turned towards Brett, a scowl on her face, "I was wondering when we'd meet again. If it wasn't for orders, I'd tear you apart right now for everything you've done." Glimmer let out a loud growl and took a few steps towards him.

"I could say the same for you…" Glimmer muttered, she then added in a more exclaimed voice, "and for 'everything I've done?' Who are you to judge me?! You're the Evil Horde! You're the ones that destroyed Elberon, poisoned Plumeria, and tried to destroy Salineas' sea gate. Justify that!" Glimmer snapped. Brett scoffed and took a couple steps closer.

"All little sacrifices in order to achieve victory and order for all of Etheria. Maybe if your little Rebellion would just give up-" Brett began before Glimmer growled and dove at him in a tackle. He simply moved out of the way, thinking she was going to hit the ground. She wised up, however. Right as Brett moved out of the way, Glimmer teleported herself in front of Brett in her diving motion, successfully tackling him.

"Oof! Whah?!" Brett yelled in discomfort and surprise. He was laying on his back, his head dangling off the edge of the cliff. He peered up at Glimmer's eyes. The sclera in her eyes began turning a dark purple. He tried punching her, but she grabbed his fist, he tried again with his other fist to the same result. He could try kicking her, but that would most likely throw him off the cliff. Glimmer knew this just as well, so she was savoring this moment.

"You know, I'm going to enjoy this, Horde scum. You're just one more evil in this world to be taken out." Glimmer said, rather coldly. Brett grunted underneath her.

"Do it then." Brett dared her, glaring. For a moment, she shuddered, and even struggled a bit. Her scowl started curving into a more concerned and even fearful expression. Brett took notice of this and he began grinning, "you can't do it, can you?" Glimmer brought her scowl back and started pushing Brett's arms towards the cliffs edge. She let out an angry exclamation. Brett then said something that finally pushed her:

"You're weak."

Glimmer's eyes widened in rage and she let out an almost inhuman growl that made even Brett fearful. The purple energy in her hands began glowing brightly. She grabbed him by the neck, stood up and held him over the edge. Brett began gasping for breath, holding onto Glimmer's hand. She gazed at him with an anger she hadn't felt before.

"No, I'm not." Glimmer said, rather menacingly. Brett choked out a gasp. Glimmer chuckled devilishly in response, then added, "goodbye, Horde soldier-" Glimmer was then interrupted by a stinging feeling in her back. Suddenly, she gasped and her scleras became white again. She let out a slight groan, letting go of Brett. Brett screamed as he was about to plummet. But at the last second, a burgundy colored claw grabbed his arm. He let out a gasp and then a nervous laugh as he realized it was Scorpia. She smiled and pulled him up. As he was brought up, he fell on all fours coughing from being strangled.

"You okay, Brett?" Scorpia asked, kneeling next to him. He coughed a few more times and held a thumbs up.

"Yeah, thanks to you… Thank you, Scorpia." Brett said, gratefully. He looked up and smiled at her and she smiled back. He then picked himself up and the two of them looked at Glimmer.

"I'd say that's a mission accomplished." Scorpia said, proudly. Brett smirked.

"Not just yet. Let's get Catra and we're out of here. And with that, Scorpia grabbed Glimmer and brought her aboard the transport, then ignited the engines, flying off to find Catra. Brett began binding Glimmer's wrists. As he did so, he looked at her with disdain.

"You've got some fight in you… but none of that's going to matter when Shadow Weaver gets a hold of you." Brett muttered.

**Apologies for the late chapter… but my wife and I welcomed a newborn child into our home last week :) We love him so much. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write, but I will try to stay consistent again. Much love!**


	21. Chapter 21: Revelations

Chapter 21: Revelations

"That was a pretty crazy catch, Scorpia." Lonnie said, impressed with Scorpia while sitting next to her as Scorpia flew the air transport. Lonnie was referencing to when Catra fell off one of the domes of the Ice Palace while trying to hit Adora off.

"Well, I sure couldn't have let my wildcat plummet to her death, could I?" Scorpia replied, gleefully.

"You did good, Scorpia." Catra said, standing behind her, and putting her hand on Scorpia's shoulder. Scorpia could not help but blush upon feeling Catra's hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, you'd do the same for me, Catra!" Scorpia replied, happily. Catra merely smirked and walked back into the passenger hold. Bow and Glimmer were in the cargo hold in energy-walled holding cells. Kyle was rubbing himself, trying to generate heat, and Brett simply sat in his seat, staring out the window with his arms folded. Catra sat next to Kyle across from Brett so that she could face him. Brett turned to Catra for a moment.

"So… mission accomplished?" Brett muttered. Catra smiled with her eyes narrowed.

"Well, not until we get those two back to the Fright Zone, but hey, look at all the damage we inflicted. We blew up the Ice Palace, stole Adora's stupid sword, and captured two high ranking Rebellion leaders!" Catra said, excitedly, leaning with her hands on her knees towards Brett. She then slumped back into her chair and added, "not that capturing them is really saying anything… the Rebellion is a joke." Brett gave a broken smile and nodded then looked out the window again, losing the smile. Catra took notice.

"I think I'm losing the part where all that bums you out." Catra said, narrowing her eyes and folding her arms. Brett looked back at Catra.

"Yeah, sorry, that was definitely a major blow to the Rebellion. I'm just a little tired from everything we did today, that's all." Brett muttered. In reality, he was still thinking of how he most likely killed that ice princess. Brett shoved all of the guilt he had, deep down inside himself, and buried that guilt with delusions that his actions were completely acceptable. He reasoned with himself that it was for the glory of the Horde and the protection of Etheria. One less princess means one less evil in the world. Still, little strands of guilt seemed to seep up passed the delusions and remind him that Frosta was only a 12 year old girl. Nevertheless, he suppressed those emotions and replaced them with vindication. He had to remain strong and determined, regardless of the moral implications. It was at this moment of reflection that he realized he needed to get a wider atmosphere.

"I'm gonna go check on the prisoners." Brett said, standing up. Catra smirked and held up an energy baton with the handle faced towards Brett.

"Feel free to give them a shock if they wake up." Catra said, chuckling. Brett nodded, taking the baton from Catra's hands. He then made his way to the cargo hold. The cargo hold served as both a storage area and a makeshift holding area. There were a few cells that had been erected. The cells were tall squares surrounded by plasma walls. They also had a dampening effect on princess powers. If Glimmer were to try to teleport out, the plasma would blockade her teleportation. As Brett made his way into the cargo hold, he walked towards Glimmer's cell. All of the semblance of guilt that Brett had been feeling towards Frosta seemed to vanish as he approached Glimmer. He glared at her with disdain, still angry at the many defeats she had caused the Horde; most especially, Elberon. Just thinking about Elberon caused the veins in Brett's neck to rise.

"You get what you deserve…" Brett muttered, bitterly. Suddenly, he heard a groan behind him. He turned to see Bow picking himself up. Brett walked over and leaned his left hand on one of the pillars holding up the plasma wall. His right hand was holding the energy baton, keeping his finger near the trigger. After rubbing his head, Bow blinked his eyes a few times and looked at Brett.

"Nice to see you among the living. Hope you're cozy in there." Brett said facetiously.

"Wh..what happened? Who are you?" Bow inquired. Brett smirked.

"Well, since you asked so nicely…" Brett said, taking his hand off the pillar and taking a step back, "you and your pink haired friend were recently captured from Princess Prom. Currently, you're en route to the Fright Zone where you'll be held for ransom. What happens after that… well, I guess Lord Hordak will decide." Brett started walking away then turned back, "oh, and as to who I am, well… you already met my sister, haven't you?" Bow gasped as he stood up and moved closer to the plasma wall.

"Wait… you're that ninja… uh, Brittni's brother?" Bow inquired. Brett turned his whole body around and walked towards Bow.

"So, you know her name…" Brett said.

"Oh, do I? She's a beast in battle! You should've seen when we were attacked by that giant spider! She was so quick in figuring out how to stop it. We actually worked together. When the spider was going towards her, she shot the base of a tree, then I used one of my rope arrows to pull the tree onto the spider. It was amazing!" Bow said, excitedly. Brett eyed Bow with confusion and a little suspicion. Bow then coughed, "but, uh… what's your name?" For some reason, that question caught Brett off guard. Brett, using his powers of observation, could tell by Bow's vocal frequencies, that he really was sincere in wanting to know Brett's name.

"...Brett." He said, simply. Bow chuckled a bit.

"Well, Brett, I'd say it's nice to meet you, but you're… kind of our captors." Bow said, jokingly. Brett cocked his eyebrow and folded his arms.

"Tough to be on that end, isn't it?" Brett muttered. Bow cocked his eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?" Bow inquired.

"Don't act like you and that princess don't know. You kidnapped my sister!" Brett snapped. Bow held up his hands in protest.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. We didn't kidnap your sister. We saw her in the Whispering Woods, we fought, and… I dunno. It's not like we were trying to hold her for ransom or anything. This is a war, we didn't know their intentions. But, we found out that Adora and Brittni were just trying to find that sword." Bow said, truthfully. Brett let out a low, vocal tremble. The sincerity in Bow's words for some reason made Brett feel uncomfortable.

"Hmph… I see." Brett muttered, not really knowing what else to say. He then thought about Bow's friendliness in speech and asked, "why are you being so… friendly?" Bow took a seat on a crate within the plasma walls and put his fist to his chin.

"I mean, we're both people, aren't we?" Bow challenged Brett. Brett's eyes widened a bit, and Bow continued, "We can still be civil. I'm sure, despite what side we're on, we might not be that different." Brett peered closer to the plasma wall.

"What are you trying to say?" Brett inquired.

"Well, think about it, if we were born in each others circumstances, would we believe our side was still right?" Bow challenged. Neither of them said nothing for a little while. The only sound they could hear was the vents and engine of the air transport. Brett was truly pondering what Bow was saying.

_"What kind of philosophical mumbo jumbo…" _Brett thought for a few moments, then countered that thought with another, _"but… he has a point… if I was born in the Rebellion, would I still believe in the Horde?"_ All of a sudden the silence was broken by a voice over the intercom.

"Brett! We're getting ready to disembark, prep the prisoners for transfer!" Catra's voice came onto the intercom. Brett stood there for a moment, silently. He looked at Bow who gave him a solemn look of understanding. Brett shuddered. This conversation and understanding that was being exhibited from a rebel soldier made Brett feel uneasy. Never did he imagine that a rebel soldier would strike a thought provoking question and conversation. The most uncomfortable feeling that Brett felt was the civility that Bow displayed. Nevertheless, Brett had to maintain his emotional fortitude. He cleared his throat and spoke into his radio.

"This is Brett, I copy." Brett said. He then looked to Bow, "thanks for the philosophy lecture, but I think it's time we focus on the real world."

_ Meanwhile, back at the Fright Zone…_

Brittni had taken Keirnan's advice and took it easy for a while. This relaxation came in the form of a nap. Despite being unconscious for two weeks, she still felt fatigued as if she had just ran a marathon. When she went back to her quarters, she layed on the couch. Once her head hit the pillow, sleep overtook her…

When Brittni opened her eyes she found herself laying down on a different couch, in a different room. She sat up on the couch and analyzed the room. She looked around and discovered massive bookshelves that stretched all the way to the ceiling. There were end tables with busts of different, humanoid looking people that she did not recognize. There were study tables with lamps made of the finest ceramics and metals. The tile floor was diaspro red tile that was covered by safavid silk rugs. Suddenly, she recognized these lavish and extravagant materials. Upon scrutinizing the details, Brittni gasped upon realizing where she was. The tile, the silk, the ceramics, the bookshelves. She was in none other than the Library of Castle Elberon!

"How did I get…" Brittni began wondering to herself when she heard a noise. She immediately turned towards it and found a figure standing next to a bookshelf, reading some kind of novel. The light was a bit too dim, so Brittni could not completely discern who it was, though she did have a conjecture of who it was.

"You know, Brittni, with all of this warfare taking place, reading is becoming a lost art. I do hope that when this war ends, everyone will return to reading. After all, knowledge is the true power in this world." The figure declared as she turned a page. Brittni shuddered and reached around her waist for any kind of weapon. The figure continued speaking, "sorry to say again, Brittni, you do not have any weapons on your person. You are, after all, dreaming." Brittni let out a gasp.

"...Oracle?" Brittni inquired. Upon hearing Brittni's inquiry, the figure shut the book gently, put it back onto the bookcase, and began stepping into the light. Just as Brittni suspected, it was indeed the blue-skinned clairvoyant.

"Hello, Brittni, it's good to see you again." Oracle's reverbed sounding voice spoke to Brittni in a calm and sweet tone. Brittni, although recognizing Oracle, was distrustful towards her. Brittni squared her body up in a battle stance and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Oracle. Oracle stopped her advance.

"Oh, would you like me to prove this is a dream? I could find you something to read-" Oracle began before being interrupted by Brittni.

"I know this is a dream!" Brittni snapped in an impatient tone. Oracle's radiant yellow eyes widened a bit and her mouth expression looked shocked.

"Brittni, what seems to be troubling you?" Oracle inquired. Brittni's narrowed eyes burst open and openly glared at Oracle.

" What's troubling me?" Brittni echoed in a desperate voice. Her voice became even louder when she continued, "you're supposed to see and know everything, and you can't tell what's troubling me?!" Oracle said nothing but merely blinked at Brittni, allowing her to continue, "because of you, Adora defected. She left us for the Rebellion! How… how could this happen?!" Oracle continued to listen in a motherly way, much to the chagrin of Brittni. Nevertheless, Brittni continued her rant, "and ever since Adora joined the Rebellion, they've been actually starting to push the Horde back… Why didn't you tell me about all of this?!" Brittni demanded, beginning to tear up. Oracle merely stood there with her hands clasped together.

"Brittni…" Oracle began gently as she walked over towards Brittni, "please, have a seat and I will explain everything I can. Brittni trembled for a moment, then took a seat on the couch. Oracle waved her hand and a mystical sounding melody followed. Right after the melody, a chair appeared a couple of feet away from Brittni, facing her. Oracle then accordingly took her seat and began her monologue.

"Brittni, I know it may not seem so, but I do understand how you feel. I know that it hurt you that Adora left the Horde. I understand that you are confused-" Oracle began before being interrupted by Brittni.

"I'm not confused! I'm angry!" Brittni snapped. Oracle let out a slight sigh.

"Do you want to know why this war started, Brittni?" Oracle inquired. Brittni gasped upon hearing that question.

"Well… I mean, yes… Lord Hordak said it was because Bright Moon had been over taxing the Horde even though the Fright Zone was not under Bright Moon's jurisdiction." Brittni muttered, hanging her head. Oracle nodded.

"This is true, but the rationale for the war stems much further than that." Oracle said. Brittni raised her head in curiosity. Oracle continued, "Brittni, what I'm about to tell you will sound inconceivable, but it is the truth. I ask for a moment that you try to keep an open mind. I promise I am only trying to help you." Oracle said, gazing at Brittni in an almost desperate expression. Brittni studied Oracle's vocal frequencies and her gaze. After a few moments, Brittni sighed and nodded. Oracle smiled.

"Thank you… now, Hordak comes from a race of space-faring aliens. They are known as the Horde Empire. They have conquered and ruled countless worlds. Etheria is one of those planets that the Horde attempted to conquer. However, there was a young woman named Mara that used a portal to send Etheria to an unknown dimension called Despondos. Currently, we are in that dimension, away from the Horde Empire." Oracle said, giving Brittni a few moments to digest what she had just heard. Brittni simply blinked a few times and looked at Oracle as though her head just exploded. Oracle took notice and asked, "can I clarify anything?" Brittni continued to stare in consternation.

"I mean, I always knew that Hordak looked different than anybody else that I'd ever seen. I didn't think he was an alien, though… Although, part of the Fright Zone does look like a… spaceship of some sort. Did he crash land here on this planet when it was being moved?" Brittni inquired. Oracle smirked.

"Truly, you are brilliant, Brittni. Yes, you see, the reason that Hordak arrived on this planet was his fear of Horde Prime, the supreme leader of the Horde Empire. Horde Prime, in order to supplement his ever growing army, created clones of himself to serve as generals. However, practicality was not the main reason that he made clones. In his arrogance, Horde Prime believes that he is the one perfect being in the universe, and is prejudiced against anybody that is not him, or as perfect as him. Hordak is yet another clone in Horde Prime's military. However, in Hordak's case, he ended up being labelled as a 'defect.' There is no room for any imperfection in Horde Prime's empire, and so, Horde Prime ordered Hordak to be executed. Before the execution took place, however, Hordak managed to steal a spaceship and escape Horde Prime for a time. Although, eventually Horde Prime managed to hunt Hordak down and find his spaceship drifting above Etheria. Once Prime found him, Hordak's ship was shot down and ended up crash landing on Etheria at the same time that Mara activated the portal and sent the planet to Despondos. Thus began Hordak's attempt at living peacefully in this world." Oracle explained. She again gave Brittni a few moments to ponder everything that was just told her. It was silent in the dream for quite a while as Brittni pondered and Oracle sat there, patiently. Finally Brittni broke the silence.

"Okay, well let's suppose all of that is true. Why does any of that matter to me?" Brittni challenged. Oracle leaned forward in her seat a bit.

"Because one day, Horde Prime will find Etheria and destroy everyone on it, including the Horde." Oracle declared, boldly. Brittni trembled as she eyed Oracle with disbelief and suspicion. Oracle could see that Brittni was visibly shaking, so she allowed a few minutes of silence for Brittni to fully digest what she just heard. Brittni finally broke the silence, while glaring at Oracle.

"You're lying… There's no way!" Brittni protested. Oracle's expression remained calm and stoic.

"I assure you, Brittni, I have told you nothing but the truth. Everything I have told you is for your benefit and the benefit of everyone on Etheria. I gain nothing from lying to you." Oracle declared, assuredly. Brittni stood up then and pointed her finger at Oracle.

"Oh, really? How do I know that you're not working for the Rebellion? How do I know that you didn't want Adora to join the Rebellion?!" Brittni demanded.

"I did want Adora to join the Rebellion." Oracle said, collectedly. Oracle's words seemed to shatter any hope that Brittni had. Brittni's body trembled as she vocally shuddered. She stood there for a moment in disbelief with a couple tears pouring out of her eyes.

"How could you want that?! Why would you allow something like that to happen?!" Brittni demanded.

"Because, Brittni, one day the Horde and the Rebellion will be constrained to join forces in order to combat Horde Prime." Oracle declared, boldly.

"Join forces?! With the Rebellion?!" Brittni sputtered out. For the first time since Brittni had met Oracle, her voice became more stern and nearly emotional.

"Is that such an infeasible agreement? After all, aren't you the one that has been demanding why the two have been fighting in the first place? Aren't you the one that has been questioning the Horde's motives and methods since Elberon?" Oracle demanded. Brittni shuddered upon hearing Oracle's words. To be completely fair, everything Oracle had said was true, even if Brittni did not want to believe her. Seemingly losing her strength, Brittni collapsed onto the couch and leaned back with her head facing the ceiling.

"Yes…" Brittni admitted. Oracle took a breath.

"Forgive my vehemence, Brittni." Oracle said apologetically. Brittni simply held up a thumbs up. Oracle smiled and continued, "I don't mean to sound so callous against the Horde's plight, but this is something much more paramount than petty hatreds. I realize that both factions have a great deal of hatred one towards another, but this can be tempered by the right person: You." Brittni lifted her head up towards Oracle and gave her a shocked look.

"Me? Why me?" Brittni protested. Oracle smiled.

"Because I know what you are capable of. I can simply say that I've already seen the future where you unite the three factions, but that wouldn't quite convey my confidence in you. You are ethical, understanding, intelligent, and brave. I have been watching you your entire life, Brittni. I know that you are the one person that can unite them all." Oracle declared, boldly. Brittni smiled and chuckled a bit upon hearing Oracle's praise. Brittni then thought for a minute about what Oracle said about 'three factions.'

"Wait, did you say *three* factions?" Brittni inquired.

"Did I? Ah, yes… that is another matter for the future. You'll be meeting them soon enough. Be wary, however. They will be hostile towards the Rebellion and the Horde. But don't let this trouble your mind, you will be able to persuade them to join forces against Horde Prime one day. But, forgive me, I should not have even mentioned them yet." Oracle said, apologetically.

"Well, can you at least tell me what they're called so I can identify them?" Brittni inquired. Oracle nodded.

"They will be called 'Night Moons.' They will be made up of powerful mages and criminals." Oracle said. Brittni eyed Oracle suspiciously.

"They 'will?' They haven't formed yet?" Brittni inquired. Oracle shook her head.

"Not yet… but the time is coming very soon. Like I said, you will be ready." Oracle said, reassuringly. Brittni stood up and paced around the floor for a few moments, taking in everything that Oracle had told her. She let out an annoyed sigh that sounded almost like a groan, then looked at Oracle.

"You know, I still haven't agreed to any of this. I still don't even know whether I can trust you or not. I mean, where's the evidence of this 'Horde Prime?'" Brittni demanded. Oracle smirked.

"You can ask Hordak yourself, if you'd like." Oracle suggested, "if you mention Horde Prime at all, you'll be able to believe in Horde Prime's existence just from Hordak's reaction."

"Don't worry, I will." Brittni said, candidly. Oracle took notice of Brittni's defensive temperament but did want Brittni to trust her.

"Brittni, there is still a little more time that we can speak. These past couple of weeks that you've been out, I've been gathering much of the parts from my crystal ball, and slowly my visions have been becoming more unequivocal. If there is anything you'd like to discuss, please ask." Oracle said, giving a welcoming smile. Brittni gazed at Oracle for a few moments and bit her lip. Despite Brittni's wishes regarding many things, Oracle had been correct about every prediction. And Oracle's promises regarding helping Catra and Adora restore their friendship and helping Brett remain on the straight and narrow path, were enticing stipulations. Brittni went ahead and sat down on the couch and faced Oracle.

"Who are you?" Brittni inquird. Oracle let out a slight gasp and widened her eyes a bit. Although Oracle was ready to answer seemingly any question, she somehow was not prepared for that one. Nevertheless, Oracle curved her mouth back into a warm smile and gazed intently at Brittni.

"Well, quite simply… I am your mother." Oracle declared, happily. No amount of mental conditioning could have prevented the emotional syringe that was suddenly just injected into Brittni's amygdala. Brittni sunk back in her seat, blinking her widened eyes. Her hands were firmly grasping the dreamscape couch, and her throat dried up. If her thoughts weren't so preoccupied by this fortuitous revelation that was barreled onto her, she would be wondering how she was feeling all of these physical perceptions in a dream. Disregarding those physical feelings, Brittni believed her. Any doubt that Brittni previously had against Oracle had suddenly disappeared. Oracle's words were so soft spoken, and yet so undeniable. The truth seemed to manifest itself onto Brittni as though she had known Oracle since birth. Brittni, despite her dry throat, managed to speak.

"M...Mom?" Brittni asked. Oracle smiled and for the first time, displayed true emotion with a shed tear strewing down her face, and a receded smile that was trying to suppress her emotions.

"Yes, Brittni." Oracle began, with more tears streaming down her cheek, "it's true, I am your mother." Oracle choked out, beginning to laugh-cry. Brittni jumped off the couch and wrapped her arms around Oracle, crying. Oracle gently returned the hug, caressing Brittni's back. For a minute, neither said anything. They just let their emotions pour out. After a minute or so, Brittni pulled away from Oracle, sniffling and laughing.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Brittni inquired, sitting back on the couch. Oracle wiped away any remaining tear.

"Well, I don't mean to undervalue our relationship as mother and daughter, but every time I talked with you, I didn't have enough magic to continue speaking with you. We've only been able to speak this long because I've gathered the majority of my crystal ball. I knew it would be a sensitive and sentimental topic, and I really needed to give you as much information regarding the salvation of Etheria as possible. So… sorry?" Oracle said, chuckling. Brittni smiled.

"It's okay… Mom. Oh, that feels good saying that." Brittni said, giddying herself up. Oracle smiled brightly at her. Brittni then continued, "well, I have one more question…" Oracle nodded, allowing Brittni to speak.

"Well… how come we were raised in the Horde? Why didn't you raise us?" Brittni inquired.

"Mmm…" Oracle began with a sigh, "well, Brittni, that was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. You see, when I was raising you, I received a vision of you and Brett being raised by the Horde. I hate to admit it, but they raised you better than I ever could have. I saw the vision of you two growing up. The Horde taught you to fight, they taught you about leadership, war tactics, comradery, loyalty, and they allowed you both to develop your talents in unique ways. I remember seeing Brett cracking the code to enhance the targeting cards on the Horde bots that allowed them to increase their accuracy by ten percent. I saw you perform a treatment on a formerly unknown creature using only basic medical instruments and plant-based remedies." Oracle declared, proudly. Brittni chuckled and nodded her head.

"Heh, yeah… those were good times." Brittni admitted, "I guess I just wish I knew that you existed." Oracle nodded.

"I know, and I am sorry. I sadly had to put the future of Etheria above anything else, and the future of Etheria could only exist if you two were raised in the Horde. Besides, I knew you would question the ethics of both factions, because you're just like me. You want only what's best for as many people as possible. I know this may hurt for you to hear, but you being raised in the Horde, and Adora defecting to the Rebellion is all apart of the plan that is going to save Etheria. Believe me when I say that this was not a split second decision. I had to thoroughly consider every factor of my doing this. In the end, it was the right decision." Oracle said, matter-of-factly. Brittni simply nodded in acknowledgement. Oracle then continued, "at any rate, Brittni, you are about to wake up, so, sadly, this is goodbye for now." Brittni shuddered a bit.

"Thank you for telling me all this." Brittni said gratefully. She then added, "can I meet you?" Brittni asked, her eyes widening in anticipation. Oracle grinned.

"Of course you can. In a day or so I will reach out to you again with instructions. For now, you're about to wake up. Have a great day… daughter." Oracle said, waving goodbye.

And with that, Brittni woke up from her dream, gasping. She stared wide-eyed at the ceiling and grinned.

"I… have a mom." Brittni said, happily. She then flipped her legs over and stood up, "I have a mom!" Brittni repeated, more excitedly. She giggled upon fully registering this revelation she had received. So many questions were running through her head:

"_When can I see her? Is she a good fighter? Do I have any other relatives? Do I have a dad, too?!"_ All of these exciting thoughts made Brittni happy until another thought crossed her mind. She thought about Horde Prime and her grin turned upside down. She knew that she had to talk to Hordak about it. She looked around and found herself alone in the quarters. It was about 16:00. Keirnan would be home in an hour or so. Brittni decided that for now she would keep Oracle a secret, but she did want to find out more about Horde Prime and his potentially inevitable arrival. With that, Brittni wrote a note saying that she went on a walk and that she'd be home later. After writing the note, she made her way towards Hordak's lab. Normally, before she arrived at Hordak's doorstep, Brittni would sweat enough to end a drought. Instead, this time, she walked with confidence and determination. Once she arrived at his door, she pressed the intercom.

"State your name and purpose." Hordak's deepened, smooth voice exuded through the speaker. Upon hearing Hordak's voice, Brittni's confidence declined a bit. Nevertheless, she shook her head and pressed the speaker button.

"Lord Hordak, it's Brittni. I have to discuss something important with you." Brittni said, confidently. Quite a few moments passed with no reply. A bead of sweat began streaming down Brittni's forehead. She wondered if she had somehow angered Hordak. Finally, Hordak's voice came back on the line.

"For your sake, I hope it is important. Proceed, Brittni." Hordak said. After his reply, his doors slid open. Brittni swallowed hard and walked into the sanctum, mentally preparing herself for the potential verbal or physical onslaught she was going to receive from bringing up Horde Prime.


	22. Chapter 22: Betrayal

Chapter 22: Betrayal

Brittni tread lightly as she stepped into Hordak's sanctum. Although she had a great deal of confidence, her bodily functions declared otherwise. She started sweating, and her anxiety grew from each step she took towards Hordak. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that getting information from Hordak about Horde Prime was essential in preventing or at least preparing for his arrival. After many more steps, Brittni scanned the area of conduits and power relays looking for Hordak and found him at his workbench. She approached carefully, taking slow steps.

"Lord Hordak…?" Brittni said, trying to get his attention without interrupting his work. Brittni saw that near his workbench was a power conduit shaped like a large, vertical pylon. Atop the conduit was an emitter of some sort. There were a great deal of various sized wires that were plugged into the conduit. Brittni was curious as to what kind of machine needed that much power. Discharging from the emitter was some kind of green energy that had formed into some kind of spinning ball. Hordak was eyeing it intently, fixated as though it were his own child. Hordak's fixation was cut soon, however, as a few moments later, the energy fizzled until the energy dissipated. Hordak let out a low grunt that evolved into a louder and more gravelly growl. The wrench that was in Hordak's hands bent under his angry clutch. He slammed the wrench on the workbench, and without looking at Brittni, finally responded.

"What is it, Nurse Brittni?" Hordak demanded in an impatient tone. Brittni took a breath in and took a shot at building rapport.

"I… don't mean to intrude, Lord Hordak, but can I ask you what that power conduit was generating?" Brittni inquired. Hordak turned his head towards Brittni while still gripping his workbench and showed his scowl.

"It is of no concern of yours, nurse. Now tell me why you are interrupting my work!" Hordak vociferated. Brittni shuddered from Hordak's scowl, and suddenly remembered why she was so afraid to enter his sanctum. Nevertheless, Brittni posed the question:

"By any chance, were you making a portal?" Brittni inquired. For the first time in Brittni's life, she saw an expression on Hordak's face that was neither a scowl nor blank. It was an expression of utter surprise. Hordak let out a deep gasp and fully turned towards Brittni, and began walking towards her. Once he was within a foot of her face he looked down on her.

"How could you possibly have known that?" Hordak inquired, suspiciously. The sweat began forming around Brittni's forehead. She swallowed hard and continued.

"Lord Hordak…" Brittni sighed, "I know about Horde Prime." Brittni admitted. Correspondingly to the moment that Hordak displayed an expression of shock, Brittni witnessed another unprecedented facial feature of Hordak:

Fear.

Hordak trembled for a few moments, taking a couple awkward steps away from Brittni. His vocal shudders were so uncharacteristic that Brittni began to be frightened. Suddenly Hordak's fear turned into anger. He took the steps back towards Brittni and grabbed her shoulders. Peering into her face a few inches away, his hot breath let out a low growl.

"Who have you been talking to? How do you know about Horde Prime?!" Hordak yelled.

"I'll tell you everything! Please, Lord Hordak, you're hurting me!" Brittni exasperated. Hordak grimaced, let go of her shoulders, and took a couple steps back.

"Speak quickly." Hordak commanded, impatiently. Brittni took a deep breath.

"Okay, it's like this…" Brittni began. She then went on to explain her dream last night regarding Oracle. She left out the details with the Monumental Room, Adora being lead to the sword, and allying with the Rebellion, as she felt those would build distrust with Hordak. But she mentioned that Oracle had revealed to her the Horde Empire and Hordak's narrow escape. The more Brittni talked, the more Hordak's countenance changed. It went from a deep scowl to curving more into a frown. His eyes widened in shock, and eventually, terror. Even his mouth began quivering. Brittni was so surprised and disturbed by Hordak's transition that she stumbled on some of the words she used. Eventually, Brittni made a proposition to Hordak.

"...Oracle told me that she has an idea on how to deal with the Horde Empire, but I have to see her by tomorrow." Brittni said, finishing her explanation of everything. At this point, Hordak was sitting on a crate; which was another piece of abnormal behavior that Hordak was displaying. He sat there, rubbing his chin, contemplating everything he had just heard. At this point his face turned more stoic while he considered Brittni's idea.

"Nurse Brittni, I have no reason to trust this… 'Oracle.'" Hordak said as he stood up from the crate. He looked away and continued, "however… there isn't another explanation I can surmise that would explain your knowledge of Horde Prime and my narrow escape…" Hordak let out a breathy sigh and paced around the lab for a few moments, still wondering the next course of action. Finally, he stopped then turned towards Brittni.

"Very well, Nurse Brittni. You say that this woman is close to Elberon? Hmm…" Hordak said, agreeing to her plan. He then added, "I have a supply transport that is leaving relatively soon to Elberon that you will accompany. I will send word ahead to Force Captain Viktor. He is currently the captain of the occupational force there. Once you arrive, he will provide you an escort to this 'Oracle.' Get all the information from her that we need, and immediately report it back to me. Is that understood?" Hordak demanded. Brittni raised her right hand in a salute.

"I understand, Lord Hordak." Brittni said, humbly. Hordak nodded and walked back towards his workbench. When he reached it, Brittni asked one more thing.

"Lord Hordak, forgive me if I'm stepping out of line, but I really need to know… was that a portal you were working on?" Brittni inquired. Hordak let out a low, breathy growl.

"It is… One of the spoils I took from Horde Prime was his portal technology. I had planned on developing smaller portals that would allow our troops and supply lines to move freely from the Fright Zone to any limitless location on Etheria." Hordak declared. He then added, "imagine how quickly we could win this war if we could position troops behind enemy lines without facing any opposition." Brittni took in a deep breath to prepare for the potential backlash that she would receive from her next suggestion.

"I see, that is impressive." Brittni muttered, she then added, "well, Lord Hordak, again, not meaning to overstep my authority, but perhaps until this business with Oracle is finished, we hold off on portals? I just don't know if we might inadvertently open a portal that Horde Prime-" Brittni was then interrupted by a loud growl from Hordak as he shoved an assortment of different equipment from his workbench. He began breathing heavily as he placed his hands firmly on the workbench. Brittni trembled, taking a step back. Hordak let out a deep sigh and without turning to Brittni he spoke.

"You may be right, Nurse Brittni. I will consider your suggestion." Hordak said, almost agreeably. He then added, "now, go and prepare yourself for Elberon. I want results." Hordak muttered. Brittni bowed herself and made her exit out of Hordak's sanctum. When she took the step outside the sanctum she took a few deep breaths. She felt as though she had been underwater from the amount of sweat she had built up and the lack of breaths she took. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and smiled, satisfied that Hordak agreed to the plan, and confirmed everything that Oracle said. She made her way back to her quarters to start packing. When she arrived, she was warmly greeted by Keirnan. Keirnan took notice of the sweat coming down her face and forearms.

"Profusely sweating to the point of almost being hyperhidrosis? Ah, you must've seen Lord Hordak." Keirnan said, jokingly. Brittni rolled her eyes.

"Ha-ha." Brittni said sarcastically. Suddenly, Keirnan's expression changed to horror as he pointed at the door.

"Oh! Lord Hordak!" Keirnan exclaimed. Brittni gasped and immediately turned around… seeing only the door. Keirnan immediately started laughing at his little prank. Brittni turned to Keirnan and glared at him.

"Why, you…" Brittni muttered before she ran at him and wrapped him in a hug while pushing him. Keirnan looked down.

"Um, is this your attempt at attacking me?" Keirnan asked.

"Shut up." Brittni said, giggling. A sudden, incoming transmission cut the pleasant interaction between the adoptive daughter and father. Brittni unhanded Keirnan and patched the transmission through. It was Viktor!

"Ah, Brittni. I just received word from Lord Hordak. Apparently you're coming to Elberon, huh?" Viktor said as his face appeared on the screen.

"That's right! I'm leaving within the hour." Brittni replied.

"You're what?" Keirnan demanded, giving Brittni a disoriented expression. Brittni turned towards him.

"Lord Hordak's order." Brittni replied, casually. Keirnan's eyes widened and he choked on a gasp. He then slowly nodded, knowing that he would never dare cross Hordak. Brittni then tried to reassure Keirnan. She took him by the hand and looked deep into his eyes, "Keirnan, just think of this as a vacation. Trust me when I say, I need to do this. Trust me." Keirnan peered deeply in Brittni's eyes, seeing the truth visibly in her. He let out a sigh and nodded, smiling. This moment, though very tender, didn't last long, as it was interrupted by Viktor clearing his throat.

"*Ah hem,* sorry, I really don't mean to interrupt this precious moment, but that supply transport is leaving pretty soon, Brittni. You're gonna want to board that." Viktor advised. Brittni turned to the screen and glared at Viktor. From what Viktor had seen from Brittni at Elberon, he found it best not to cross her. He simply let out a nervous chuckle then mentioned, "Eh, heh, heh. But, hey, I'll let you two have your moment. See you in a day or so!" Viktor then shut off the transmission. Brittni giggled a bit while Keirnan chuckled.

"Alright, Nurse Brittni. I guess I can't go against Lord Hordak's orders. I guess I'll see you in a few days or so?" Keirnan inquired.

"You will." Brittni said smiling. She walked passed Keirnan towards her room and donned her armor. It had been a while since she had felt the enclosed, protective, and snug feeling of the armor. She exited her quarters and saw Keirnan holding up the bag she packed for her journey to see Oracle. She smiled and took the bag from Keirnan.

"I really hate that you've grown up so much." Keirnan muttered while chuckling. Brittni gave a crooked smile.

"You know… that makes two of us." Brittni said, returning the chuckle. The two hugged for a couple minutes and as they pulled away, Brittni gave Keirnan a thumbs up. He laughed upon seeing such a gesture and returned the thumbs up. Brittni then exited the quarters and made her way to the supply transport. She started up the ramp to the passenger hold for a moment but then turned around. She took one last look around the Fright Zone and sighed. She then smiled.

"Well, time to meet my mom…" Brittni muttered to herself. She then walked into the transport and began her sojourn to Elberon.

_Just as Brittni's transport took off, another pulled in… _

As the air transport carrying Glimmer and Bow descended onto the vehicle bay's hangar, the loud hum of the air transport slowly mollified into silence. Shadow Weaver and a contingent of soldiers were marching into the vehicle bay to assume control over the prisoners. Team Catra made their way out on the ramp into the vehicle bay. A bound Bow was in tow, but Glimmer was nowhere to be seen. Shadow Weaver narrowed her eyes at the team and moved towards them, gripping Bow's cheeks.

"Mmm…" Shadow Weaver muttered, analyzing Bow's features. He stared at her with widened eyes. Shadow Weaver chuckled, released his face, and continued, "so this is the famous tech master of the Rebellion? I am honored to meet you. With simply a bow and trick arrows…" Shadow Weaver's voice became more agitated and dark as she looked to the soldiers that were with her, "you've made a mockery of the Horde military!" Shadow Weaver yelled to the rest of the troops. Most were taken aback, frozen in place from Shadow Weaver's indignation. Shadow Weaver took a deep breath then calmly added, "Sec Team 1, take this rebel to the lockup." At Shadow Weaver's command, the security team took hold of Bow and started pulling him away.

"Wait! What are you gonna do with Glimmer?! Stop!" Bow protested as he was being pulled. One of the soldiers plunged their energy baton into him and sent a 10,000 volt of electricity into his diaphragm, successfully incapacitating him. Scorpia and Kyle shuddered a bit from seeing Bow get shocked. Catra and Lonnie laughed at his misfortune. Brett, uniquely, simply gazed at him, seemingly apathetic towards Bow's plight. Shadow Weaver interrupted this cluster of emotions by approaching Catra.

"So… you and your ragtag team actually managed to accomplish a task. I would be impressed if I wasn't so surprised." Shadow Weaver declared callously. Catra glared at Shadow Weaver and let out a refrained hiss. Nevertheless, Catra simply nodded. She then added, "and where is the princess? Could you not capture a single princess?" The anger in Catra was building up, but her fear of Shadow Weaver's authority outweighed the anger. Catra let out a low hiss.

"She's still on board in the plasma enclosure. But we need your powers to restrain her." Catra sorely admitted. Shadow Weaver merely scoffed.

"Must I do everything…" Shadow Weaver muttered. Brett was waiting for Catra to stand up for herself. Yell, lash out, do something! But Catra wouldn't. Brett looked around. The rest of the team were too afraid to say anything as well.

But Brett wasn't.

Brett marched over in between Catra and Shadow Weaver, gently moving Catra behind him. She hissed upon being touched but he just simply glared at her, causing her to blink her eyes and take a few steps back. Brett then turned to Shadow Weaver.

"We accomplished this mission because we're among the most elite the Horde has to offer, and we were led by one of the most competent force captains." Brett declared, boldly. Shadow Weaver moved closer to Brett, narrowing her eyes at his, behind her mask.

"Know your place, Saboteur Infiltrator. Your tone is borderline insubordinate… but I suppose you would know much about that." Shadow Weaver seethed out. Brett blinked at her a few times then narrowed his eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Brett demanded.

"I have watched you your entire life. 'The Observer Twin...' You have never lived up to your full potential. Everybody in the Horde has had to work and train hard to become what they are. Everything has come easy to you, however. You have been both lazy and careless towards training and work. If it weren't for your observation powers, you would have been relegated to janitorial duties. The only reason I've tolerated you is because you do have a gift of observation and learning, which serves as an asset to the Horde. But just because you think you're special, you believed you could get away with anything. I've seen your pranks, your flippant attitude towards authority. Imagine if you were actually passionate about your training." Shadow Weaver snapped. The veins in Brett's neck began to bulge and his breathing became more pronounced and resentful. Shadow Weaver took note of this and continued, "oh, did I finally penetrate that carefree attitude?" Brett grunted in agitation.

"I was promoted after one mission! I singlehandedly upgraded the targeting systems of all our bots! At Elberon, I-" Brett shouted before being interrupted.

"Maybe so. But imagine if you actually put more effort towards your work. I know you take the easy route towards an objective." Shadow Weaver sneered. Brett slowly reached for his energy baton that was holstered on his waist, keeping his focus on Shadow Weaver's face. Shadow Weaver's voice became more distorted, "don't you dare, Infiltration Saboteur. Your job is only to follow orders." Brett's fingers were itching to grab the baton. They hesitated for a moment, but were inevitably retracted back to his side. He let out a sigh and simply nodded.

"Yes, Shadow Weaver." Brett muttered. Shadow Weaver kept her scowl under her mask but lowered her tone.

"Very good. Now, you, Catra, and the rest of your team go write your report. Sec Team 2 and I will escort Princess Glimmer to my chambers. Now, all of you… Go." Shadow Weaver commanded. Brett and team began walking away out of the vehicle bay. Once they made their exit, Catra grabbed Brett's shoulder. She looked to Scorpia, Lonnie, and Kyle.

"You three go write the report. We'll catch up." Catra muttered.

"You got it, Catra!" Scorpia said, jubilantly as she grabbed Lonnie and Kyle and tucked them under her arms.

"Ack! Scorpia! What is it with gigantic hybrid humans lifting us up?!" Lonnie protested, referencing when Rogelio carried her and Kyle away from Brittni.

"Seeya, guys!" Kyle said. Once those three had left, Catra turned to Brett.

"I don't need you to stick up for me…" Catra muttered, bitterly. Brett narrowed his eyes at her and scoffed.

"Look, I know you're not used to it, but it's not a crime to accept help from a teammate." Brett snapped.

"I can take care of myself, Brett! I don't need help from anyone!" Catra snapped.

"You never would've said that to Adora." Brett snapped back. When Brett said that, he almost immediately regretted it. Catra let a slight gasp escape her throat while blinking. A few tears welled up in her eyes. She then glared at Brett.

"Don't say that name around me!" Catra shrieked, letting a couple tears fall out of her eyes. Brett shuddered, having not seen Catra so emotional before.

"Catra, I-" Brett started before being interrupted by Catra.

"Save it! I don't want to hear it!" Catra snapped, wiping away her tears. Brett grabbed Catra's left shoulder with his right hand. Catra hissed at his action, "get your hand off me!" She commanded, flexing her right hands claws and taking a swipe at Brett. He held up his left hand and allowed her claws to scratch the bracer on his armor. This made Catra shudder and retract her claws.

"That one's on me…" Brett muttered. He then sighed and continued, "I'm not the best at this whole listening and comforting thing, so bear with me. Look, I know that you're pissed about Shadow Weaver. Lord knows I am. She thinks we're both unmotivated screwups, even though we've proven ourselves so many times towards the Horde. But I'm being real when I say this: you don't need the validation of the higher ups. I meant it when I said that you are one of the most competent force captains I've ever served under. Forget what Shadow Weaver says." Brett declared. Catra and Brett gazed at each other. For the most part of their lives, they grew up seemingly as strangers. Brett never really liked Adora and because of her association with Catra, didn't think much of her either. Catra was always jealous of the Twins and their powers. Although Brittni was friends with Adora, and tried to be friends with Catra, Catra never opened up to Brittni. But at this moment, Brett and Catra felt a strange connection towards one another. A certain relationship was being formed because of mutual pain between the two. Catra continued to shudder for a moment, then gently lifted Brett's hand off her shoulder.

"...I don't need you to make me feel better, Brett… I've been doing it by myself my entire life." Catra muttered as she walked away. Brett knew that, deep down, Catra was grateful. Gratitude was such a foreign concept to Catra that she didn't exactly know how to respond to it. The majority of her life, all she felt was abuse and so had become conditioned to only respond to that stimuli. Even though Brett understood this and realized that Catra had struggled and suffered, he never did anything to alleviate her pain. Maybe Shadow Weaver was right about Brett being careless. However, Brett wasn't exactly sure why, but he did start caring about how Catra felt right now. Maybe it was because of mutual pain. In a way, he did feel somewhat how Catra felt. She lost Adora, and Brett felt like he was losing Brittni to Oracle.

"Ugh, I must be losing my mind." Brett muttered. He then chuckled and walked to his quarters, hoping to find Brittni…

_Meanwhile, back with Shadow Weaver and Sec Team 2's attempt at displacing Glimmer… _

Shadow Weaver and Sec Team 2 entered into the air transport with the intention of taking Glimmer back to the Black Garnet Chamber. They first arrived in the passenger hold. As they walked through, a disturbing ambiance pervaded the atmosphere of the transport. It was too quiet. Shadow Weaver held up her hand, commanding her troops to halt. They did so and she looked around.

"What is it, Lady Shadow Weaver?" One of the soldiers asked. Shadow Weaver scanned the area. Something did not set well with her. She felt… magic. Suddenly, the team heard a clanking noise in a room behind them. The soldiers looked and drew their energy batons, but Shadow Weaver kept her eyes forward.

"Go check that out, Jonas." The sec team's captain ordered. Jonas nodded and treaded carefully towards the noise. He opened the door and peered inside. Turning on a light and looking around he found that to the left was a bathtub and toilet, and to the right was a counter with a sink, right below a mirror. Other than basic bathroom commodities, Jonas saw nothing. He turned towards the group.

"Nothing here, Cap-" Jonas started before the group heard that digital wind chime noise. Suddenly, Jonas was pulled inside the bathroom and the door was slammed shut.

"Jonas!" The captain yelled, running to the door and trying to open it. The team could hear Jonas screaming inside until, suddenly, he stopped. The captain gasped and finally kicked open the door, causing it to fly against the wall. He moved inside and raised the energy baton, igniting it to illuminate the area. As he moved his head around he came in contact with something that made him scream. Glimmer was in the bathtub, holding a bloodied Jonas. The captain went to aim his baton at Glimmer, but she dropped Jonas, and punched the captain, knocking him into the mirror, shattering it. The other teammates rushed in while Glimmer was pounding on the captain. They aimed their batons.

"Freeze!" a soldier commanded Glimmer. Glimmer turned towards the soldier and growled. She quickly teleported. As Glimmer teleported, the soldier fired her baton, missing Glimmer but hitting the captain. He let out a scream then a breathy gasp as his body went limp.

"Captain!" The soldier yelled. Glimmer appeared behind the two soldiers and grabbed both of their helmets, bashing their heads together with all the strength she had. Despite their helmets, the adrenaline that was kicking in Glimmer gave her the strength to crack their helmets against one another, incapacitating them. Glimmer started breathing heavily.

"Now that that's over…" Glimmer began muttering before hearing a calm, but sinister voice behind her.

"Oh, this is far from over, Princess." Shadow Weaver said, standing a few feet behind Glimmer. Suddenly, Glimmer felt a binding, black aura, envelope her. As much as she tried to move, the aura would not allow her. She even attempted to teleport, but was met with a stinging pain that encircled her body. Glimmer let out a writhing shout of pain until she fell to the floor.

"Welcome to the Fright Zone… Princess." Shadow Weaver muttered, devilishly.

_Meanwhile in the throne room at Bright Moon… _

A certain Queen was situated on the throne, sobbing excessively at the abduction of her daughter. Her worst fears had come true. Queen Angella had spent the majority of life attempting to keep Glimmer sheltered and protected from the world. At this moment, she felt like a complete failure. She was given two options by the morning moonrise. Surrender herself and the Rebellion to the Horde, or allow her daughter and tech master to be executed. This was an impossible decision. All of her guards were stationed outside, as she did not want them to see her in this state. The General of Bright Moon, however, needed to receive an answer to the Horde's demands, and as such, walked into the throne room. She came within ten feet of the throne and bowed herself.

"Hail, Your Majesty." The General said, humbly. Queen Angella wiped her tears away and sniffled.

"You… may rise, General Arya." Angella approved. General Arya lifted herself up.

"Forgive me, my Queen. I can only imagine how you feel. I am sorry about your daughter." Arya said, reassuringly. Angella lifted her eyes up to meet Arya's.

"I am going to have to surrender myself, Arya." Angella said, defeated. Arya shuddered.

"No! My Queen, I understand how important Glimmer is to you, but if we lose you, we'll lose the entire Rebellion!" Arya protested. Angella glared at Arya.

"Do not presume to understand my feelings, General! I am going absolutely mad. I know that this is an impossible decision!" Angella snapped. Some more tears came pouring out of Angella's eyes and she sighed, wiping the tears away, "...but I have to put my daughter first. Tell Hordak that I am going to surrender myself. It is the only way that I can have any kind of assurance that Glimmer will be okay." Arya stared at Angella in disbelief. There was no way that Arya could let Angella surrender herself so easily. To that end, Arya put on an act.

"Of course, my Queen, I will send out the communication to Hordak." Arya declared, raising a fist to her chest. She began walking away but turned back for a moment to add, "it… has been an honor serving with you, My Lady." Angella nodded, and Arya exited the throne room and made her way to the communications center. On the way there, Arya had written a false message from Angella. When Arya finished writing the message and entered the comm center, she saw a communications tech awaiting the message to Hordak.

"Greetings, General. Has the Queen reached a decision?" The tech inquired. General Arya let out a deep sigh, feeling guilty for what she was about to do.

"She has. Relay this message to Hordak, per Queen Angella's orders." Arya said as she handed the document to the tech. The tech looked over the document. As he went through the document, his expression went from blank, to shocked, to horrified. He shuddered as he posed his next question.

"This… this is what the Queen wants?" The tech inquired. Arya simply nodded, gravely. The tech let out a sigh and began transcribing the message.

** To: Hordak, leader of the Horde,**

** I am writing this letter in response to your most recent actions against the Rebellion. You have crossed the line in performing the despicable act of kidnapping my daughter and Bow. The Horde and Rebellion have been warring one against another for a great deal of time, but I have never thought that you would resolve to using such cruel methods in order to achieve victory. You think of us as weak and overly sentimental to the detriment of our cause. I need you to know that I love my daughter more than anything, and if you do anything to harm her, I will make sure that you and your Horde will be destroyed. However, the terms you have put on the table are unacceptable. I hereby refuse to surrender myself or the Rebellion. Again, remember that whatever harm you cause my people, I will make sure you and yours suffer much further than you could ever imagine.**

**I am Queen Angella, leader of the ever-living Rebellion.**

After finishing the transcription, the tech looked to Arya with shaky hands.

"Queen Angella really said this…?" The tech inquired.

"All her words… One sacrifice for the lives of everyone in the Rebellion." Arya said, looking away. The tech let out a long sigh then looked at the transcript, hovering his finger over the key to send the message. He hesitated, however, to the chagrin of Arya. Arya eyed the tech, suspiciously and asked, "Is there a problem?" The tech looked back at Arya then stood up.

"I need to ask the Queen about this, there's something not right about this…" The tech said as he began walking towards the exit. Arya turned to him.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Arya demanded.

"Something's wrong. The Queen would never write all that. I need to verify the message with her- AGH!" The tech screamed in pain as Arya plunged her energy baton into his back, sending a wave of voltage through his body. He collapsed onto the floor, smoking. Arya shuddered, angry that she had to do that. She walked over to the communications relay and stared at the message, letting out a deep sigh.

"For the Rebellion…" Arya declared, almost regrettably. And with that, Arya's finger slammed the button, thus sending the message…


	23. Chapter 23: Lost Glimmer of Hope

Chapter 23: Lost Glimmer of Hope

The trip to Elberon seemed quicker than the last time Brittni had traveled there. Now that there was a supply line that went directly there, she also felt safer. The only company Brittni had was a speechless dylamug, and a quiet-by-choice, driver. Since the dylamug was basically a human-shaped robot, and the driver had a door between the cargo hold and the drivers cab, Brittni didn't do much talking. This made her antsy because she had nobody to share her excitement with. She felt like a pot of emotions that was boiling over and she was struggling to keep them in. Nevertheless, despite the lack of conversation in the ride there, she was able to have a lot of time to think. Mostly, she thought about what she was going to say to Oracle. And Brittni did have a lot of questions.

"_Where did Brett and I come from? Who was our father? Why didn't you just join the Horde with us? Do you support the Rebellion? How come your skin is blue?"_ Brittni pondered to herself. Soon enough, Brittni's thoughts were interrupted by the sight outside. Sure enough, she saw the walls of Elberon, mostly repaired. The tanks were also dug out, and the trenches were filled in. The transport arrived at the gate and was greeted by a guard. The driver handed over paperwork, and the transport was let in. Brittni looked around through the window. She was impressed by the reconstruction that the Horde did. It almost looked like there was never a battle here in the first place. Once they arrived at the supply station, the dylamug began unloading the supplies from the back. The driver stepped out and began stretching and barking orders at the dylamug to hurry up. Brittni rolled her eyes, wondering why he was in such a hurry. Brittni opened the side door of the transport and hopped out, stretching as well. She took a look at the supply station when she walked inside. It looked like a typical warehouse; shelves full of crates and tools, people running around carrying boxes. There were conveyor belts sorting all the different parcels and supplies according to different categories like food, medicine, weapons. Between the hustle and bustle of the different bots and workers sorting through the crates, a very familiar figure waded through the crowd, holding his arms out in a saunter, accompanied by two other Horde troopers.

"Ah, if it isn't one of the famous Observer Twins, Nurse Brittni. Come to give a couple of the troops a sponge bath?" Force Captain Viktor chiggered, facetiously. Brittni narrowed her eyes at him and folded her arms.

"Actually, Lord Hordak put me in charge of putting a catheter on you." Brittni said, seriously, though she was grinning devilishly. The two Horde troopers accompanying Viktor switched glances between the two, nervously. Suddenly both of them burst out laughing, holding their stomachs. The two Horde troopers took a step back from Viktor, confused. Brittni ran over and wrapped Viktor in a hug.

"Whoa, whoa! Easy there, Nurse. I'm not used to affection from a celebrity." Viktor said, chuckling and returning a one handed hug. Brittni rolled her eyes and let go.

"Wow, look at you, Viktor. Force Captain." Brittni said, eyeing his Force Captain badge. Viktor tapped the badge on his chest and winked. Brittni then remembered someone she had worried about so greatly.

"Dragstor…" Brittni began. Viktor shuddered upon hearing his name, "how is he?" Viktor scratched the back of his neck and sighed.

"He's alive…" Viktor muttered, looking down for a moment. He let out another sigh then looked back up, "but he's paralyzed from the waist down." Brittni gasped, holding a hand to her mouth. Her countenance changed into complete melancholy. She still felt guilty for what happened to him. Viktor took note of that and took a step towards her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, listen to me, Brittni. It's nobody's fault except the Rebellion." Brittni nodded, shaking a couple of tears out of her eyes. He then continued, "if it makes you feel better, we've been experimenting with cybernetics. Supposedly we've got some medical engineers that are researching a way to help him walk again. Some kinda machine that connects wires from his brain to his legs or something like that." Brittni's hope slowly came back upon hearing this and she smiled, wiping away her tears. Viktor smiled in affirmation.

"Anyway, it's late. I got quarters prepared for you in the barracks…" Viktor started.

"Wait." Brittni said. Viktor eyed her, intently. She continued, "can I… see Dragstor?" Brittni inquired. Viktor blinked a couple times.

"Ehhh… well…" Viktor started, mulling it over in his mind. Brittni stared at him wide-eyed, her eyes glossy. Viktor narrowed his eyes at her, "are you seriously doing puppy dog eyes? Ugh, alright, yeah, you can go see him. I'm sure the medical staff would be happy to see you anyway." Viktor said. A wide smile formed on Brittni's face. Viktor nodded to the two soldiers. The two soldiers escorted Brittni to the medical clinic in town. It started out as a medical tent, but during reconstruction, the Horde built a complete clinic. She walked through the doors into the clinic and spoke with the administrator who guided her to Dragstor's room. It had been so long since Brittni had seen Dragstor. Even though Dragstor's wound wasn't her fault, Brittni still wondered if she could have done something to save him from paralysis. That was the survivor's guilt in her. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath and stepped into the room. On a hospital bed, laid a large man in a patient gown, hooked up to numerous IV's. Brittni's eyes went wide when she saw what was atop the man's head. It was Dragstor's helmeted rebreather mask.

"Dragstor…?" Brittni inquired. A slight groan was muttered in reply. Without moving a muscle, Dragstor's deep and distorted voice came through the mouthpiece of the mask.

"Well, it's hard to mistake this helmet for anyone else." Dragstor said, chuckling. Brittni cocked her eyebrows.

"Humor? You've definitely changed." Brittni said, letting out a little chuckle. She then walked over to Dragstor and put her hand on his shoulder. With the little strength he had, he put his opposite hand on her hand.

"What can I say? I can't fight anymore, so I took to reading and humor." Dragstor said, chuckling. Brittni took a seat on a rolling chair then peered into Dragstor's mask.

"How are you?" Brittni inquired. Dragstor, slower than a snail stuck in glue, moved his head towards Brittni; his neck popping as it moved. Brittni bit her lower lip, already understanding what Dragstor was implying, "right, sorry, dumb question. I guess people ask that question so that the receiving person knows that the giving person cares?" Brittni said, grinning nervously. Dragstor stared for a few moments. Even though he was wearing a mask, Brittnt could tell that Dragstor's expression basically said, 'Brittni, shut up.' Instead, Dragstor's real words were more polite:

"That was a lot of words. I'll just say that I'm fine and I'm glad you care." Dragstor said, chuckling. He then turned his head back to facing the ceiling, inducing more neck pops. Dragstor coughed a few times through his mask then continued, "as flattered as I am that you're here, I don't think visiting me was the only item on your agenda. What brings you back to Elberon, Brittni?" Brittni thought about what information she was going to disclose.

"Well, long story short, I'm meeting with an informant that has information regarding the Rebellion. They live relatively close to Elberon." Brittni said.

"Mmm…" Dragstor muttered. He said nothing for a few moments then coughed out a slight chuckle, "by any chance is your informant blue skinned?" Brittni widened her eyes and choked on a gasp. Dragstor began laughing, which induced a coughing fit for a few moments. After he wheezed out the last of the cough he continued, "yeah, she had already reached out to me. Oracle, right? She told me you would be coming here." Dragstor said, continuing to stare at the ceiling. If there was such a thing as a mind literally being blown. The entire hospital room would be covered in Brittni's brains. Without much thought, Brittni stood up from the stool, the friction from her motion, causing the stool to fly against the counter behind her. She then put both of her hands on Dragstor's shoulders.

"You know about Oracle?! Did she talk to you?! How did she reach out to you?!" Brittni exclaimed, staring widely at Dragstor. Dragstor simply cough-laughed. Brittni took her hands off Dragstor but continued to stare intently at him.

"Well, it's like this, kid…" Dragstor began, "I was unconscious for quite a few days after the surgeons patched me up. When I came to and they told me I was paralyzed. In order to cope with that, I took to reading. At the castle of Elberon, I found a massive library. It was an enormous treasure trove of literary art. When the Specters first infiltrated a castle, I found a great deal of things to indulge myself with. There was a particular book series that I have been reading, entitled, 'Etheria: Past & Present. I've read through several volumes… but there was a particular volume, the fifth one that's significant. The fifth volume documented all of the kingdoms and their runestones. Bright Moon with their Moonstone, Plumeria with their Heart-Blossom, Brimstone Keep with their Searing Obsidian, et cetera. Anyway, I turned to a certain page and found out about a runestone I hadn't heard of before: The crystal ball. As far as I know, there's never been a kingdom that's claimed it. I don't even know how this book knew about it. But, I digress. As I was reading about it, I began feeling a strange sensation. Like… a magical energy was flowing through me. All of a sudden, I heard a voice. It scared me at first, but as it talked with me, I calmed down."

"The voice came from the picture of the crystal ball, huh?" Brittni inquired. Dragstor nodded.

"It sure did. Anyway, she explained who she was and explained everything about Horde Prime." Dragstor declared. Brittni shuddered upon hearing Horde Prime's name. Dragstor continued, "she said you were supposed to be here a while ago… but then she revealed to me that you were rendered unconscious from a wasp? Well, better late than never. At any rate, she wanted to speak with you tomorrow. I can show you where her home is on a map." Brittni was becoming more excited by the minute. She especially took comfort in the fact that there was somebody else that believed Oracle. Just to be sure, Brittni posed the question to Dragstor.

"Did you believe her?" Brittni inquired. Dragstor replied with a loud laugh and loud coughing.

"Ha! Absolutely not…" Dragstor said, quieting his laugh, "that is, until she predicted the Rebel's defense of Plumeria and Salineas. She then revealed Horde Prime and the fact that we would have to ally with the Rebellion to stave off his invasion." Dragstor said, shuddering and letting out a breathy groan, "I'm not sure what's more awful, fighting Horde Prime or being forced to ally with the Rebels…" Dragstor muttered. Brittni nodded.

"Believe me when I say, I understand exactly what you mean." Brittni claimed. Dragstor nodded.

"Well, at any rate, Brittni, as far as I'm concerned, I'm still your captain. So, I order you to get some sleep and meet with Oracle tomorrow. I'll make sure that you're able to go alone." Dragstor said, reassuringly. Brittni smiled and raised her hand in a salute.

"Right away, Captain." Brittni said, gratefully. Dragstor nodded and handed Brittni the map to Oracle.

"Alright, now get outta my room, kid, I need my beauty rest." Dragstor said, jokingly.

"Dragstor, you always wear a mask, what does 'beauty rest' matter?" Brittni said, laughing.

"Well, yeah. I wear the mask, 'cause this world ain't ready for my good looks. But that doesn't mean that I can't take care of myself." Dragstor said, laughing and coughing. Brittni widened her smile. She then started walking towards the exit of the room.

"Thank you, Dragstor." Brittni said. Dragstor simply held a thumbs up and immediately after, fell asleep.

_Meanwhile, back at the Fright Zone, in the Black Garnet chamber…_

The Black Garnet was normally a quiet place where Shadow Weaver could meditate and rejuvenate her powers, the only sound being the electrical currents circulating between Shadow Weaver's body and the Garnet itself. On this day, however, a sequence of moans, growls, and screams; all vociferated by none other than Princess Glimmer, pervaded the room. Across from the Black Garnet were two pylons holding power conduits that were generating reddish-black energy that had kept Glimmer restrained. Every attempt that Glimmer made to teleport or move out of the black energy was met with ever intensifying pain, the more she struggled. Shadow Weaver had just gotten off a video transmission with Hordak. He praised her for the capture of Glimmer and Bow despite Catra and her team doing all the work. Catra, upon hearing Shadow Weaver's acceptance of Hordak's praise left the chamber in a huff. The room now only consisted of Shadow Weaver and Glimmer. Despite the pain Glimmer kept receiving from her attempts of escaping the black energy, she continued to fight to get out of it. Shadow Weaver moved towards Glimmer a few feet away. Shadow Weaver then slowly moved her head, inches from Glimmer's.

"Try to relax, Princess. After all, don't you want to be presentable for your mother when she arrives to surrender herself?" Shadow Weaver said, malevolently.

"Don't talk about my mother…" Glimmer muttered, exhausted from her attempts to escape from the black energy. Shadow Weaver smirked under her mask.

"Perhaps you'd like to speak of your father? Brilliant mind. Easily the most talented sorcerer in all of Mystacor." Shadow Weaver declared while pulling her head back and looking away. She then added, "...and my favorite student.". Glimmer lifted her head up and glared at Shadow Weaver, too exhausted to lash out. Shadow Weaver ignored her and paced around the room, "you know, Micah was the one that actually helped me perform the Spell of Obtainment. In a way, you can thank him for making me what I am today." Glimmer gazed at Shadow Weaver with a mixed expression of anger and disbelief.

"That's not true! He would never agree to performing dark or evil magic!" Glimmer protested. Shadow Weaver began laughing maniacally. She then turned to Glimmer.

"You're right! Micah only agreed at first to perform the spell until he saw the full power that the spell would grant upon its summoner. It was working for the both of us, and we would have had the power to defeat any enemy." Shadow Weaver declared. Her tone then changed from excitable to more serious and condemning, "but Micah was afraid of the power. He was supposed to continue casting, but he became distracted. He was afraid of the… 'evil' that the spell contained. As much of a gifted and tenacious sorcerer he was, he was a coward. He was afraid of power." When Glimmer heard that, she glared more deeply and gritted her teeth, beginning to growl. Shadow Weaver then rushed over to Glimmer and peered closer to her face.

"He. Was. WEAK." Shadow Weaver shouted. Whatever possible fatigue and nerve that was holding Glimmer back suddenly snapped. Hearing that word, 'weak,' was so infuriating to Glimmer. But especially hearing Shadow Weaver speak that way regarding her father? Glimmer could not hold back her rage any longer. With every ounce of strength that she could use, she shrieked in anger and managed to push her right fist fast enough to punch Shadow Weaver right in the face, sending her flying several feet, onto the ground. The pain that accompanied Glimmers action caused her to writhe and shriek. The pain didn't last long. Suddenly her adrenaline kicked in and immediately healed her wounds. Although she couldn't move, she felt satisfied that she had managed to at least harm Shadow Weaver. Glimmer began feeling the darkness she had felt before. It was that same darkness that Glimmer was attempting so earnestly to blockade, but now seemed to be seeping through to her very soul.

"You… will… never win… I will… destroy… all of you…" Glimmer managed to choke out. Shadow Weaver groaned while she slowly picked herself up. She let out a little chuckle that evolved into her maniacal laughter.

"Very impressive, Princess…" Shadow Weaver said, sincerely, as she picked herself up, "that is the kind of boldness and vigor that I wanted in Micah. I'm glad to see that at least you have it." Shadow Weaver moved to Glimmer again who was too weak to continue fighting. Shadow Weaver held Glimmer's face.

"Ah, yes… I can feel it in you. The darkness. It's just waiting to take you over. I remember when I first felt the power envelope my very being." Shadow Weaver muttered. Glimmer slowly lifted her head up.

"I'm nothing like you…" Glimmer muttered. Shadow Weaver smirked.

"We'll see… I'm working on a very special spell right now. With this spell, you'll forget everything about the Rebellion. We will make you think that you had been raised in the Horde all along. And once you let the darkness envelope you, you will have power unimaginable. And then, we can rule Etheria, together." Shadow Weaver declared.

"She-Ra… will stop… you…" Glimmer muttered.

"There is no She-Ra! We have the sword. We have the power! And soon, both you and her will join the Horde and we will finally defeat the Rebellion!" Shadow Weaver declared. Suddenly, their conversation was interrupted by a transmission. Shadow Weaver patched it through and activated the monitor, revealing Hordak.

"Lord Hordak, has there been an update from Queen Angella?" Shadow Weaver inquired. Hordak let out a breathy grunt.

"There has. A very surprising one, in fact. Apparently, Queen Angella has more backbone than I had anticipated…" Hordak said, looking away. He looked back and then added the damning statement that would finally send Glimmer over the edge:

"The Queen has rejected my terms. She has refused to surrender herself and the Rebellion… Get whatever information you have out of the Princess and get rid of her." Hordak commanded, ruthlessly.

It is difficult to describe just exactly how Glimmer felt as her mother's words escaped Hordak's mouth. A quagmire of emotions exploded in her heart and mind. Confusion, anguish, sadness, anger, fear. All of these emotions kept Glimmers tongue in check. She switched glances between Hordak and Shadow Weaver. As she kept her gaze on Hordak, a stream of tears began falling out of her eyes. She spoke in a soft, hurt voice when the next inquiry came out of her mouth.

"She… she's not coming for me? She's going to let me die…?" Glimmer inquired, no longer able to hold in her emotions. She began to sob uncontrollably and hung her head, feeling completely defeated. Shadow Weaver cruelly ignored Glimmer and turned to Hordak.

"Lord Hordak, she can yet be of use to us. I know of a way to use her powers to supplement our military." Shadow Weaver suggested. Hordak eyed Shadow Weaver suspiciously and rubbed his chin.

"And what exactly is your plan?" Hordak demanded. Shadow Weaver crowed.

"I will be able to erase her memories and replace them with those of a trained killer. She will become a powerful weapon to be utilized by you, my lord." Shadow Weaver explained. Hordak continued to rub his chin.

"I see… you have twenty-four hours to make your theory a reality. Do not disappoint me." Hordak said. His image then left the screen and the transmission was shut off. Without the conversation between Hordak and Shadow Weaver, the cries of Glimmer permeated the room. She had never felt this horrible before. It is as though at this moment that Glimmer felt she had nothing left to live for. She felt more alone than she had ever felt before. Her one last source of comfort and security, the person who was supposed to put Glimmer's needs above anything else, suddenly abandoned her. At least, that's the message that General Arya had convinced the Horde to believe. Shadow Weaver moved over to Glimmer, completely unphased by her emotions.

"Don't fret, Princess…" Shadow Weaver started, "soon enough, you won't remember any of this anyway…" Glimmer continued to sob, completely unable to control her despair.

_Meanwhile, a day or so later, Brett had entered his quarters and visited with Keirnan for a time. Keirnan explained that she was sent, personally by Hordak, on a medical mission to Elberon… While this was happening, Adora and her team of Princesses; (and Sea Hawk,) infiltrated the Fright Zone with the intention of rescuing their friends… _

"Huh, so Hordak sent her on the mission? He really has confidence in her abilities if he's sending her on a mission a couple days after she had just woken up…" Brett said, leaning against the couch and putting his feet up on the coffee table. Keirnan was cooking in the kitchen.

"Well, he certainly does value her worth. It's nice to see you two getting the validation you deserve." Keirnan replied, focusing on his cooking. Brett sighed when he heard Keirnan speak of validation. He was still a little bothered by what Shadow Weaver said. Even though Brett usually didn't seek validation; or care what people thought about him at all, Shadow Weaver declaring that he was a failure, actually hurt him. Brett said nothing, he just stared at the wall in front of him. Keirnan took note of the silence and turned to Brett, "hey, you okay?" Brett shook his head to snap back to reality and turned his head to Keirnan, smiling.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. Just kinda wish Brittni was back. Honestly, I haven't been able to just… hang out with her in weeks." Brett said. He then let out a scoff, followed by a chuckle, "look at me. I never thought I'd miss my sister so much."

"Ah, well you two have always been together. Being separated is pretty foreign to you two. Why, I remember when you were toddlers, you used to comfort each other by holding hands. Oh, you were adorable." Keirnan said, smiling and returning to his cooking.

"Oh, man, Keirnan, stop, you're gonna make me puke, man." Brett said, laughing. Keirnan joined in the laugh until suddenly, they both heard an alarm go off. A voice came over the loudspeakers.

"**ATTENTION: THERE HAS BEEN A FRIGHT ZONE SECURITY BREACH. ALL TROOPS BEGIN SECURITY SWEEPS, IMMEDIATELY. THIS IS NOT A DRILL." **The voice declared over the speakers. Brett and Keirnan looked at each other. Brett jumped up from the couch and ran into his room to put his armor on and holstered his laser pistol. As he exited his room, Keirnan handed Brett his helmet. Brett nodded and put the helmet on.

"Lock the door, Keirnan. I won't be long." Brett's radio-distorted voice came out of the helmet's mouthpiece. Keirnan nodded and wished Brett safety as he moved out of the room. He smirked as he knew exactly who had snuck in.

"...Adora." Brett muttered as he unholstered his laser pistol and began marching down the hallway to find his prey…

_Meanwhile, the next morning at Elberon, Brittni makes her way to Oracle's home… _

Brittni had slept that night in the troop barracks, waking up every hour or so from the excitement she felt from being able to see her mother. That, and dealing with an assemblage of other soldiers snoring near her. When she finally felt that she had had adequate sleep, she jumped out of her bed and threw her armor on. She was hoping to make her exit without the escort that Viktor assigned to her, but nevertheless, they, along with Viktor, were waiting at the gate.

"Viktor, I don't need babysitters! I can handle myself." Brittni protested. Viktor folded his arms.

"You know the rules, Brittni. Combat medics require an escort. Besides, you're heading into uncharted territory." Viktor assured her.

"Uncharted territory? Aren't you supposed to make a several square mile perimeter?" Brittni inquired, cocking an eyebrow at Viktor. Viktor scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah… I'm still used to the whole Force Captain thing. Besides, the Rebels, as well as some bandits have been harassing our perimeters, so it hasn't been the easiest thing keeping this place locked down." Viktor admitted. Brittni groaned and smacked her forehead. She then walked up to Viktor and flicked his forehead.

"Ow. What the? Did you just flick my forehead?!" Viktor demanded. Brittni rolled her eyes and walked passed him.

"You two coming?" Brittni demanded as she walked towards the exit of the city. The two soldiers switched glances between each other, Brittni, and Viktor. Viktor put his head to his hand and started shaking it. Simultaneously, he waved his other hand, dismissing the two soldiers. The two soldiers then took off after Brittni. The trio walked out into the forested area of Elberon and began walking for about a half hour. Brittni studied the map extensively and was sure that they were on the right track. One of the soldiers kept asking,

"Are you sure you're going the right way?" While the other soldier would complain:

"Ugh, can we take a break? This is taking forever." These complaints and interruptions began testing Brittni's patience until she had just about had enough of their distractions. She manifested this frustration by squeezing the map, growling at the sky then turning to the soldiers.

"Would you two SHUT UP?!" Brittni shouted. Suddenly, her frustration turned to caution. She felt something near them. That something she felt manifested itself as a flurry of kunai knives flying towards her. With a split second reaction, Brittni narrowly dodged the kunai's flying at her feet by jumping back and landing on her knees. Just as this happened. A group of bandits jumped from the trees. Two of them landed behind the Horde soldiers and put their kunai at the soldiers' throats. Brittni could see that the bandits were dressed in black attire with masks. A second later, another bandit appeared behind Brittni with the intention of putting his kunai in her throat. Anticipating this tactic, Brittni dropped the map and grabbed the bandits hand holding the kunai and twisted it, causing him to scream and drop the kunai. Simultaneously, she spun with kunai in hand, and put it to the bandit's back. The bandit began panting nervously and held up his hands in surrender.

"You're going to want to drop your daggers." Brittni suggested, narrowing her eyes at the two bandits holding her escorts hostage. As she said this, another bandit jumped from the trees in front of her escort. This bandit dressed more ornamental than the others. She had long, jet black hair. Her attire consisted of a black bodysuit that covered every part of her body except her arms. The bodysuit also had a black flak jacket. Armoring her body were black, metal, kote gauntlets that covered her dark purple gloves. Finally, on her feet were black tabi boots, and her face, a mask. The mask was distinctive as it was in the fashion of Venetian and Pierrot masks. That is, it was adorned with silver and purple decorations in the baroque style. The mask also had purple colored lips, and large eye slits that revealed the bandits dark purple eyes. The most distinguishing feature of her was the purple tint to her skin, a little darker than Queen Angella's.

"They're actually called kunai…" The girl muttered, then added, "and you're the one that's going to want to drop yours. Oh, and surrender all of your possessions. We may even let you live." The bandit girl suggested, coldly. Brittni smirked.

"Over your dead body." Brittni replied, threateningly. The girl smirked and snapped her fingers giving her men a morbid order.

"Kill them all…"


	24. Chapter 24: Darkened Light

Chapter 24: Darkened Light

"...Kill them all." The ornamentally masked woman coldly ordered to her subordinates. Brittni took a split second to analyze the situation. This was a precarious standoff. With only one kunai, Brittni could potentially hurl it at one of the bandits' kunai, disarming him. If she did that, however, the other bandit would immediately kill one of the Horde soldiers. Brittni would not want to be responsible for a comrade's death on her hands. For now, she would try diplomacy.

"Wait!" Brittni shouted. The leader held up her right fist, signifying to her men for them to stay their blades. Brittni let out a breath she was holding then continued, "okay, look, let's be amicable about this. What do you want?" Brittni inquired. The leader took a few steps forward towards Brittni. Brittni pressed her blade closer to the neck of the bandit. The bandit shuddered upon feeling the metal on his neck.

"Well, I would like a lot of things. I'd like to take back my rightful place in my old kingdom, I'd like to destroy both the Rebellion and the Horde, and I'd especially like right now for you to relieve yourselves of your belongings." The leader said, callously. She then unsheathed the sword that was resting on her back and pointed it at Brittni, "so if you could acquiesce to at least the last request, we'll be on our way." Brittni bit her lower lip, still pondering what to do. The bandit she was holding hostage started to wriggle around. She whispered in his ear a faux threat that made him whimper and obey her command. Brittni then thought about what the leader said about her 'old kingdom,' and decided to ask about it.

"Wait, you said something about an 'old kingdom,' what did you mean by that?" Brittni inquired. The leader's hand that was holding the sword started lightly shaking, as if she was unnerved by Brittni's inquiry.

"That's none of your business-" The leader started before being interrupted by Brittni.

"You wouldn't have brought it up unless you wanted someone to ask about it!" Brittni snapped. The leader growled.

"I've heard enough, we're doing this the hard way! Kill th-" The leader started shouting before being interrupted by Brittni again.

"Okay, okay! You win!... you win… all we have are some medical supplies and a few weapons." Brittni exasperated. The leader chuckled.

"I've never seen that kind of armor before… I want it." The leader demanded. Brittni cocked her eyebrow at her. There was no way Brittni was going to surrender her armor. She made a calculation of the situation. The bandit who she was holding was clearly a coward, but since he was a bandit, money was obviously a high priority. Bandits were also notorious for betrayal. She moved close to the bandits ear and whispered as quietly as she could.

"Hey, listen, I'll pay you to help me out. If yes, cough once, if no, cough twice." Brittni commanded. The bandit hesitated for a moment, then eventually coughed once. Brittni smirked. The leader was clearly getting impatient, however.

"You have three seconds to surrender everything." The leader said, beginning her countdown. Brittni continued whispering in the bandit's ear.

"Okay, listen. I'll let you go, and you grab one of your kunai and hurl it at the guy on the left, I'll take the right. Understand?" Brittni whispered quickly. The bandit coughed once, and then a second later coughed again. He then spoke.

"Wait, sorry, I meant to only cough once!" The bandit hostage clarified. Brittni gasped and the leader stared intently at Brittni and the bandit traitor. She let out a low growl that evolved into a loud one.

"A code…" The leader muttered, gritting her teeth, "if there's one thing I can't stand it's TRAITORS." She yelled. At the snap of her fingers, the bandits holding Brittni's escorts hostage plunged their kunai into their necks. The soldiers choked for a moment on the kunai, but quickly succumbed to their wounds, falling onto the ground and dying the grass a dark crimson. Brittni shuddered for a split moment, but remembered there was no time to mourn the dead. She shoved the man she had hostage towards the leader. As he was shoved towards the leader, she plunged her sword deep into his chest, the sword protruding out the other side. She then kicked him off the blade towards Brittni. Brittni jumped back and waited a few seconds. After said few seconds, she hurled the kunai at the leader who deflected the kunai with her blade. Brittni smirked as she watched the kunai that was deflected, glide to the left, hitting the bandit on the left in the knee. Immediately when the bandits knee was pierced from the kunai, he plummeted into the ground and yelped in pain. The leader switched glances between her crippled subordinate and Brittni, grunting. The other bandit was running at Brittni, shouting, with his kunai pointed downward. Brittni squared up her body and bent her knees a bit. She observed his steps and timed it just right at to when he was going to strike. He was within a few feet and raised his hand, then forced it downwards to stab Brittni in the neck. Before that happened, she moved forward, making the bandit's kunai hit the air behind her. With her head right next to his wrist, she turned towards it and bit down. The bandit screamed, dropping the kunai and trying to pull away from Brittni's teeth. He managed to get it out of her mouth, but not without some blood drawn. The bandit screamed upon seeing some flesh torn from his wrist.

"You just bit my wrist! Are you craz-?!" The bandit exclaimed before being interrupted by Brittni's next action. Still within melee distance, Brittni cocked her head back and rammed it into the bandits skull, busting his nose. He fell backwards onto his bottom and held his nose with his non-wounded hand.

"Agh! Stop taking cheap shots-" The bandit started saying before Brittni finally put him down by kicking the side of his head, immediately knocking him out. Brittni, at this point was panting hard from all the breaths she had taken in fighting. Not a moment sooner, she felt cold steel slither under her throat. Brittni looked to her left and saw the leader. She was holding her blade against Brittni's neck.

"Impressive…" The bandit leader complimented. Brittni smirked at the leader which caught her off guard. Suddenly, the leader felt a pointed object poking her oblique. She looked down and saw that it was Brittni's energy baton. When Brittni roundhouse kicked the bandit with the busted nose, she simultaneously unholstered her baton, anticipating the leader's move. The leader switched glances between the baton and Brittni, then started laughing. She then pulled the sword back and sheathed it on her back. She then folded her arms and added, "very impressive…" Brittni eyed the leader suspiciously.

"What are you doing?" Brittni inquired, apprehensively. The leader tisked.

"You're a true warrior. I know when I'm beaten. I took two of your men, you took two of mine… I'd say we're even." The leader declared, callously. Brittni widened her eyes in a rage.

"We're not 'even!' You attacked us! None of this had to happen!" Brittni yelled. As a quick after thought she added, "and your men aren't even dead!"

"Neither are yours. They were merely rendered unconscious. We were going to sell you all as slaves, but warriors were not meant to be slaves. We'll leave you in peace." The leader said as she began walking away. Brittni was appalled by this bandit. She glared at the leader and raised her baton, igniting the energy. The leader stopped, but did not look back.

"Put that away. We both know you're not a killer." The leader said casually. Brittni was taken aback by that comment, and uttered a slight shudder. The leader then turned her head towards Brittni, "you could have killed my men rather easily, but you took the more arduous route of incapacitating them." At this point, Brittni's hands began shaking. The leader let out a slight chuckle, "don't worry, Brittni, we'll be seeing each other again very soon…" Brittni trembled upon hearing her own name come from the leader's mouth.

"H… how do you know my name?" Brittni demanded, "who are you?!" The leader turned all the way around.

"I know a great deal about you, Brittni. You've already met my niece… but that's a subject for another time. You can call me Void, leader of the Night Moons." Void declared. Brittni let out a loud gasp. The Night Moons! That's the faction that Oracle had mentioned! Brittni did not say anything, but continued to stare at Void in disbelief. Void then raised her fist and added, "as fun as this was, I must be leaving. It's been a pleasure, Brittni." And with that, Void threw some kind of explosive that let out a smokescreen. Brittni coughed a few times and waved the smoke away. After it cleared, Void and the two, still living bandits vanished into thin air. Brittni trembled as she brandished her baton, waving it around to see if Void had truly left. Upon analyzing the terrain, all she saw were trees and other foliage. It would be easy for Void to have simply retreated back into the trees, but Brittni would have noticed if they were nearby. She still kept her baton in hand as she went to tend to the two escorts. Thankfully, Brittni felt a pulse in them, but they did lose a large amount of blood from the kunai. She pulled out some gauze pads and treated their neck wounds. For now, they would remain stable, but they were going to need some blood. Brittni wondered what to do at this point. It would take quite a while to go back to Elberon to get the equipment needed to help the two. She put her gloved finger to her mouth and lightly bit it, wondering what to do. During her thoughts, she heard a noise behind her. She immediately turned to the noise, and brandished her ignited baton at the source.

"Come back for round two, huh?!- Wait." Brittni started before letting out a loud gasp, "it's… it's you!"

"Hello, Brittni." Oracle greeted, smiling.

_Meanwhile, back at the Fright Zone… _

The Princess Alliance's assault on the Fright Zone had shifted the otherwise organized and secure atmosphere into utter chaos. Adora lead the other magic-powered Princesses into an infiltration mission to rescue Glimmer and Bow. When they had rescued Bow, they came up with a plan to stage a prison breakout. Entrapta and and the mermaid princess, Mermista were at the control tower within the Horde's prison. The prison consisted of cells with plasma screens to keep prisoners secure. There were retractable catwalks that lead to different levels and also served as ways of blockading potential prison escapes. While in the tower, Entrapta modified a master switch to simultaneously release all of the Horde prisoner's cells and extend all of the catwalks. When this happened, not only did a great deal of Rebel fighters get released, but also many civilians and criminals. At any rate, once the cells were opened, the inmates, though initially confused by this sudden development, cheered as they all poured out of their cells. In response, all available guards in that sector were ordered to consign the inmates back in their cells. Entrapta and Mermista looked down at the ensuing conflict below them. The prison had become a quagmire of chaos and violence. At different floors from the bottom, there were only a few guards per level that were easily overtaken by the inmates. Entrapta made the catwalks shift into ramps that descended to the bottom floor where the exit was. All the prisoners from each level had began running down the catwalk ramps to the bottom floor. Just as soon as they arrived, lasers firing from Horde energy batons and rifles had lit up the area in a green light show. Many of the prisoners took to running at the guards in hopes of grabbing their weapons. Although many prisoners were gunned down, eventually, the guards began being trampled over. The inmates began grabbing the guards' weapons and firing at the ones that were not in melee distance, successfully dispatching many of the first wave of guards. After realizing that they were outnumbered, some guards yelled for a retreat and for backup. Brett was one of those that was apart of the backup. Brett was positioned on the floor above the majority of the rioters that had made it to the bottom level. He did not want to have to kill them all, as he believed that the Horde locked them up instead of killing them for a good reason. He shifted his helmet's visor to shield his eyes from his next move. Brett pulled the pin on a flash bang grenade and heaved it at the rioters below. Unprepared for such an attack, most of the rioters ceased their movement and began rubbing their eyes. There were some that continued to run, but mostly into walls. Brett quickly assessed the situation to see who was going to recover first. He jumped over the railing and landed with a deafening blow to the floor below him, that cracked it and caused a slight shockwave that knocked over anybody within a few feet of him. He looked around and saw a man stop rubbing his eyes. Brett ran over and roundhouse kicked his stomach, dropping him. Brett spotted the next one to recover and punched his face, knocking him to the ground. More and more began recovering from the flashbang and Brett was going to have to react quick. He unholstered two energy batons and ignited them. He bent his knees and took an akimbo stance with his front baton faced downward for front striking and parrying, while his rear baton faced up for swinging. One prisoner ran at him, fist raised. Brett, to keep the distance between him and the prisoner, used his front baton in a stabbing motion to strike right into the prisoners stomach. The electrical surge from the baton immediately incapacitated him. Two more were coming at Brett, one on his right side, the other behind. Brett observed the one on his side coming faster, and so, turned towards him and swung the baton at his head, surging electricity and adding a blunt damage to his head. At the same time, Brett swung around and used both batons to electrocute the one coming behind him, successfully dispatching him. Brett was panting hard at this point. He looked around and saw that the prisoners outnumbered him greatly, not being able to count all of them. Brett choked on a gasp then growled.

"C'mon! I'll take all of you on!" Brett said with faux confidence. In response, all of the prisoners ran at him, fists and weapons raised. Some fired the laser function on the weapons they stole, but his armor stopped the lasers from piercing into his skin. Although, each laser that hit him started knocking him around, nearly off balance. Brett managed to fend off a few more prisoners until one large prisoner managed to tackle him. When Brett was tackled, his helmet flew off and the brute of a prisoner held Brett's arms down. Brett growled and struggled to stick his batons into the prisoner that tackled him to no avail. The prisoner raised his fist, ready to strike Brett in the face. Brett squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting his impending doom. That doom never happened, however, as Brett witnessed a certain feline silhouette fly at the prisoner from the front, pushing him off Brett. Brett quickly picked himself up. He looked around and saw the prisoners enthralled by the sight of Catra clawing the prisoner apart. Blood shot out of the prisoner as Catra continued to claw at his body and neck. The prisoner, choking on his blood and simultaneously losing air flow from having his throat slashed, ceased to live. Catra then let out a hiss-like roar at the now deceased man. A prisoner ran over to Catra to try and shove her off, but she turned towards him too quickly, with enraged eyes. The man shuddered and stopped in his tracks, taking a step back. Catra then hurled herself at him, and continued her slaughter. Knowing he would not be able to subside Catra's rage, Brett continued using his batons on the prisoners as they came at him. Eventually, more guards poured into the floor. The prisoners continued to put on quite the resistance, however. Armed with stolen laser weaponry and their fists, most of them gave up fighting Brett and Catra and turned their attention to the other guards. Gun fights broke out with prisoners taking more losses than the soldiers. Eventually, there remained rather few prisoners and they ended up sticking their arms in the air in surrender. As the guards began placing the prisoners in handcuffs, Brett looked over at Catra who had finished off the other man she had attacked. Blood was dripping rapidly from her claws. She was breathing heavily while she was still kneeling on the prisoner she had just killed. Brett slowly walked over to her.

"...Catra?" Brett said, questioning her rage. She turned towards him, glaring for a moment, then resting her eyes into a more blank stare.

"You're welcome…" Catra muttered as she slowly picked herself off of the man.

"Well, yeah. I mean, thanks for coming when you did… but I've never seen you in this much of a rage. I told you, you can't let Shadow Weaver manipulate your emotions-" Brett started before being interrupted by Catra.

"Nobody is manipulating me!" Catra said marching up to Brett with a finger pointed at him. She pulled her finger back and continued, "I stopped a prison break, it didn't matter who I had to kill to do it." Brett shuddered. He knew there was something that Shadow Weaver did that caused Catra to go berserk like that. Although Brett wanted to lecture Catra on the value of prisoners, there were more pressing matters at that moment. So instead of arguing, he simply nodded. Catra turned away and, using her intrinsic feline agility, leapt to the second level. She then turned towards the guards.

"Get the rest of the prisoners in their cells… I'm going to deal with the princesses." Catra ordered as she slunk away. Brett set his curiosity aside and nodded in agreement. He looked around and saw all of the bodies. There seemed to be an innumerable number of corpses that littered the ground, and it made Brett shudder. Nevertheless he shook his head back to reality and oversaw the prisoners being transferred back into their cells. While this was happening, Brett, standing in the midst of the prison was trying to figure out how this all happened.

"_The Rebels must have made it into the prison control tower…" _Brett thought to himself. He started running up the nearest catwalk to make it to the tower. He was going to have to get to at least the third level to get to the catwalk. As he was running up the catwalk to the third floor, it suddenly began retracting, and he started falling backwards back onto the second floor platform.

"Oof! What the-?" Brett protested. He looked to the wall and found a control panel. He ran over to it and ripped off the control panel revealing a number of wires. He started cutting them apart and splicing them with his torch. Once he did that, he gained complete control over the system. He extended the catwalk again and shifted it into an elevator. He jumped on the catwalk and made it ascend all the way to the tower. Brett then ran to the door and attempted to open it.

"Uh, they're, like, trying to get in. Can you fix that, geek princess?" An unfamiliar voice sounded through the door. Brett cocked his eyebrow. He then heard a more familiar voice.

"Hang on, I think I can seal the door, further!" The more familiar voice said. Brett did not want to wait for them to do that. He took several steps back and readied himself to kick the door open. He then sprinted at the door. However, just before he made contact with the door, it opened. Brett could not control the inertia of his speed and he ran right into…

"Entrapta?!" Brett inquired as he ran into her causing them both to tumble to the floor. Entrapta was standing by the door trying to seal it with the nearby control panel, but ended up causing it to open. Brett was atop Entrapta on the floor, inches away from her face. As he pushed himself up, both of the individuals on opposing forces locked eyes. Brett knew that Entrapta was a princess, but did not realize she was in the Rebellion. Entrapta giggled a bit.

"Wow, I guess I crossed the wrong wire and inadvertently _opened_ the door. Well, whatever. Hi, Brett!" Entrapta said, smiling. Brett continued to stare at her in disbelief, completely oblivious to the rest of his surroundings.

"Entrapta, what are you doing-" Brett started before hearing a pipe break. He looked up and saw a pipe that was supplying water suddenly broke, and water shot at him like a fire hose, knocking him off Entrapta and back against a wall.

"Oof! Ugh…" Brett groaned as he hit the wall. Mermista, the other princess in the room had used her powers to cause that disruption. Brett growled as he looked over at her.

"Why you…" Brett started as he picked himself up and ignited the baton in his hand. He was about to brandish the baton at Mermista when she sprayed even more water on him. The electricity that shot out of the baton was conducted by the water that hit him, and began electrocuting him.

"AGHHH!... ugh…" Brett groaned as he dropped to the floor, losing consciousness. Entrapta let out a slight gasp as she saw Brett being electrocuted. Mermista ran over to Entrapta.

"Yeah, so, we gotta go. Like, now." Mermista said cordially, with a hint of urgency. Entrapta switched glances between Mermista and Brett. She then nodded, took Mermista's hand, and they both ran out of the tower to go meet up with the other rebels. They eventually met up with them and they all began making their way to the vehicle bay where Adora advised them to steal a skiff. On the way, they went through several security doors that would open and close behind them as they moved. Adora then declared that she was going to stay and ransom herself off in exchange for Glimmer's freedom. Despite their protests, Adora slammed her fist into a control panel that sealed the door behind her, separating her from the rest of the group. She then surrendered herself and was brought into the Black Garnet chamber.

_In the Black Garnet Chamber… _

Once Adora was transported into the Black Garnet Chamber, she was strapped to a table at the opposite end of the Black Garnet's electrical restraints. Glimmer, though heavily fatigued, had a glimmer of hope build up once she saw Adora.

"A...Adora?" Glimmer wheezed out. A few tears streamed down her eyes as she saw her friend again.

"I'm here, Glimmer! We're going to get you out of this!" Adora proclaimed. Shadow Weaver moved over to Adora with great zeal, welcoming her back to the Fright Zone. Shadow Weaver had gone over with Adora just exactly what she had planned to do with both her and Glimmer. She claimed that a mental breakage would speed up the process. Adora trembled and shook her head at such a plan.

"No! Shadow Weaver, just let her go! Please!" Adora begged.

"Adora…" Glimmer said weakly, "please, I have nothing left to live for… don't sacrifice yourself to save me." Adora sputtered.

"Nothing to live for?! Glimmer, you're the heart of the Rebellion! You're the reason the alliance was rebuilt and thriving! You're-" Adora yelled out before being interrupted by Shadow Weaver.

"Silence, Adora! She is nothing. But soon… well, soon, she'll have a purpose… serving the Horde." Shadow Weaver said coldly. With that in mind, Shadow Weaver moved over to Glimmer within a foot of her face and put her hands on Glimmer's head. In that moment, the electrical energy from the Black Garnet began flowing through Shadow Weaver's hands and began surging through Glimmer's mind. If ever there had been the worst pain Glimmer felt, it was now. She screamed and writhed in absolute agony as Shadow Weaver performed her ritual.

During these seemingly eternal moments, Glimmer began letting the darkness overtake her again. Ever since Glimmer had heard that her own mother decided to sacrifice her own for the sake of the Rebellion, Glimmer lost all of her hope. She had never felt so low in her life. It is as though she had completely given up and had lost her will to live. But when Adora came back and told her how important she was, she finally regained that hope. This was a different kind of hope than she had felt before. She was not feeling sadness and despair anymore. Instead, the hope that Adora gave to Glimmer was accompanied with anger, indignation, and then rage. Glimmer, through her writhing, began growling instead of screaming. Shadow Weaver took note of this.

"Yes… Yes! That's it! Embrace the darkness! Soon, you will be using it for the glory of the Horde! Ah-ha!" Shadow Weaver cackled. Slowly, a blackish-purple aura began surrounding Glimmer. Shadow Weaver had not expected this kind of transition, and shuddered a bit, "what? No! What kind of power is this? No!" Shadow Weaver yelled as she started feeling Glimmer overpowering Shadow Weaver's own power. With one final deep shriek, Glimmer pushed passed the electrical restraints and grabbed hold of Shadow Weaver. Glimmer started feeling herself begin to absorb the Black Garnet's magic from both Shadow Weaver and the Black Garnet, itself. Suddenly the reddish-black energy that had been holding Glimmer suddenly started turning purple. That energy was being absorbed by Glimmer until she was finally released from the restraints and slowly floated down to the ground. Adora shuddered and gasped at the situation that was occurring in front of her.

"G… Glimmer?" Adora managed to say, despite her fear.

"What? What are you doing?! No! You can't sap my magic! I am the one in control here! I am the one that is going to be victorious! I-" Shadow Weaver began shouting before feeling herself become enveloped in the blackish-purple aura that Glimmer had become enveloped in. Suddenly, Shadow Weaver was lifted by the aura and began floating in midair.

"No… NO! ONLY I CAN CONTROL THE BLACK GARNET! YOU WILL NOT TAKE WHAT IS MINE-" Shadow Weaver attempted to scream. Suddenly, Glimmer's face became blank, staring apathetically at Shadow Weaver.

"I am strong. You. Are. Weak." Glimmer proclaimed. Shadow Weaver shuddered and protested, but Glimmer did not listen. Glimmer gave Shadow Weaver one final glare and shoved her hands forward, causing the magic to propel Shadow Weaver against the opposite end wall, slamming her into it. Shadow Weaver coughed out some blood, with it sliding down her mask. She began coughing out more blood. Glimmer walked towards her and used her new powers to pull Shadow Weaver to herself, then against the wall again. She repeated this a couple of times until she knew that Shadow Weaver was broken. Adora screamed at what Glimmer was doing.

"Glimmer! Stop!" Adora protested. Adora's protests fell on deaf ears, however. Shadow Weaver wheezed weakly at Glimmer. Glimmer then lifted Shadow Weaver up above the Black Garnet with her back facing the sharp end of the garnet.

"Thank you for showing me who I really am." Glimmer said, smiling devilishly. And with that, Glimmer threw her hands down, causing the aura to propel Shadow Weaver downwards, impaling her onto the Black Garnet. Glimmer stared remorseless at Shadow Weaver. Adora's mouth quivered at the entire scene that had just played out. Even though Adora knew Shadow Weaver was evil and that she had caused so much pain to Catra and many other Rebels, she couldn't help but feel melancholy. Regardless of what happened to their relationship when Adora left Shadow Weaver, this was still the woman that raised her, and Adora could not help but feel anguish from losing someone that she had known for so long. As sad as Adora was that Shadow Weaver was gone, even more so, Adora was afraid of what Glimmer had done. That was the most ruthless, and cold-blooded act that Adora had witnessed Glimmer commit. Glimmer continued to stare at Shadow Weaver and her blood that had begun anointing the Black Garnet. She moved to the garnet and touched it. She felt a slight shock, then she began feeling an energy current. Glimmer put both her hands on the Black Garnet and began absorbing its power. Shadow Weaver's blood began streaming down onto Glimmer's hands. Glimmer seemed to absorb the blood as well. The aura's colors began shifting from a blackish-red aura, to a blackish-purple aura. Eventually, the blood seemed to almost be siphoning from Shadow Weaver into Glimmer. Adora gasped and started struggling against her restraints, completely in fear of Glimmer. Glimmer finally heard Adora's strugglings and immediately shifted her neck towards Adora. Adora gasped upon seeing Glimmer's eyes. They were glowing a dark purple, with a smokey-like aura steaming above the eyes. Glimmer felt the power coursing through her veins until she felt that she could not absorb anymore. Finally, she unhanded the Black Garnet and began breathing deeply.

"Yes… I feel it now, Adora. I can feel the power." Glimmer said, intensely. Adora eyed Glimmer, with a gleam in her eyes.

"Glimmer… what happened? What's happening to you?!" Adora demanded. Glimmer started walking towards Adora and pointed her right forefinger at Adora's restraints. The aura enveloped the restraints, and ripped them off. Adora continued to lie there, still afraid of whatever happened to Shadow Weaver.

"What happened is that nobody is going to hurt me ever again. I finally have a way that I'm going to destroy the Horde. I am going to bring peace and security to Etheria." Glimmer declared, the aura surrounding her becoming darker. Adora continued to shudder, not knowing what to say. Glimmer took another step towards her and held out her hand. Adora switched glances between Glimmer's face and her hand. More out of fear than loyalty, Adora grabbed Glimmer's hand, and was lifted up.

"Okay, well, we'll discuss this all later. We need to get out of here." Adora said, walking towards the exit of the chamber. Glimmer scoffed and looked back again towards the Black Garnet.

"I'm not going back to Bright Moon… at least, not right now." Glimmer sneered. Adora turned back towards Glimmer.

"Glimmer, what are you talking about? We need to go!" Adora protested. Glimmer turned towards Adora.

"I am not going back to that treacherous, old witch." Glimmer muttered. Adora blinked her eyes a couple of times and eyed Glimmer suspiciously.

"What are you talking about? Your mother?" Adora inquired. Glimmer growled.

"Would my 'mother' sacrifice her only daughter? Would my 'mother' allow her own flesh and blood to be murdered by her enemies?! Would she slowly lead the Rebellion to its complete annihilation for years and years?!" Glimmer questioned, intensely. She then began pacing around the room and continued, "no. No, I'm not going back to her. She gave the Horde the O.K. to execute me. I'm going to fight the Horde in my own way now." Glimmer sneered. Adora continued to gaze at Glimmer in complete desperation. She wanted so deeply to understand exactly what Glimmer was talking about or going through, but they were running out of time. Almost as if Glimmer was reading Adora's mind, she changed the subject.

"Anyway, we really don't have time to talk about this. I'll help you get out of here… and then I'll find my own way out." Glimmer said. Adora, not wanting to argue, simply nodded her head. The two ran out of the chamber and ran towards the vehicle bay. In order to cut their time by a great percentage, Glimmer used her powers to crack holes in walls to make a straight line until they had finally made it into the bay. Once inside, they found the princesses, Sea Hawk, and Bow. Adora ran towards them and hopped into the skiff that they were all aboard. Adora and the rest of the group turned towards Glimmer. Glimmer simply stood there and looked away. Bow was the first to speak.

"Glimmer! Let's go! C'mon!" Bow yelled to her. Glimmer let out a sigh.

"Thank you all for coming to save Bow and me. Really… thank you." Glimmer muttered, looking away. A few more tears streamed out of her eyes. She wiped them away and continued, "but, it's like I told Adora, I'm not going back to Bright Moon. I'll see you all again, one day… Goodbye." Glimmer said, almost regrettably.

"Glimmer!" Everyone on the skiff shouted. Glimmer raised her hand and used her power to surround the skiff in the dark purple aura, and activated it, causing the skiff to fly out of the bay. Glimmer shed one last tear as her friends flew away, and let out another sigh. Suddenly she heard an assemblage of voices behind her. She turned towards it and realized it was a group of the Horde's prisoners that escaped. She walked towards them and spoke.

"If you all want to live and get revenge against the Horde, follow me." Glimmer declared. The group of people switched glances between each other and Glimmer, then with one accord, agreed to go with her. They all followed her as she boarded a skiff and flew out of the Fright Zone. Glimmer took one last look and glared as she uttered her last words.

"I'll be back, Hordak… just you wait."


	25. Chapter 25: Reflections

Chapter 25: Reflections

Although Brittni had just encountered a rather daunting ordeal; with her escorts nearly killed, and dealing with the leader of Night Moon, the anxiety she felt from that situation seemed to melt away as she gazed upon Oracle. Although Brittni had seen Oracle in numerous visions and dreams, they did not do her justice. Oracle's radiance seemed to be a light shining in the darkness, despite the fact that it was a bright morning. Brittni could not help but gaze at her mother, completely enthralled by her majesty. Oracle took notice of this and smirked. Her reverbed voice then broke the silence.

"It is wonderful to see you… daughter." Oracle said, emotionally laughing a bit. Once the word 'daughter' escaped Oracle's lips, Brittni sprinted at Oracle with tears flying behind her. Brittni wrapped her arms around Oracle, the inertia almost pushing Oracle over, even though Oracle towered over her. Brittni buried her head into Oracle's chest and began bawling out of joy. Oracle smiled wider than she ever had before and wrapped her own arms around Brittni. If ever there was a spiritual experience that manifested truth unto Brittni's soul, this was that experience. Truly, it had been confirmed to Brittni that Oracle was indeed her mother. Although Brittni had just learned who Oracle was just a day ago, she felt, in that moment, that she had known Oracle her entire life. Even Oracle began weeping out of happiness for finally meeting her daughter. Oracle returned the embrace, wrapping her arms around Brittni and squeezing her tight. The two family members embraced each other for seemingly an aeon. There was an unspoken communication in their embrace that simply said one to another, 'I love you.' Eventually, the two family members pulled away from each other, but held hands for a few more moments. After that, they both began wiping away their tears and started laughing, almost embarrassed of their interactions. After a little more time they both stopped their laughs and just gazed at each other with brightened smiles. This very well might have been the happiest the two had ever been. Sadly, this touching reunion had to be paused for a moment as Brittni gasped.

"Oh! My escort! They need blood. I need to get them to Elberon!" Brittni declared. Oracle walked over to the escorts and analyzed them.

"Bring them back to my home. I have a medical procedure that should mend their wounds and rejuvenate their blood." Oracle suggested while hoisting one of them over her shoulder. She then turned to Brittni. "Come, let us move quickly." Oracle advised. Brittni nodded running over to the other escort and hoisted him over her shoulder. Oracle then lead Brittni through the forest for seemingly quite a while. Brittni inspected the environment as they trudged through the forest. The trees seemed to go on forever and Brittni literally felt the weight on her shoulders. Eventually, the group found themselves in the middle of a hilly field. Oracle inhaled a good amount of air, then exhaled it softly.

"Ah, we're here." Oracle declared. Brittni looked around, trying to find Oracle's home. Brittni then gazed at Oracle suspiciously, unable to see any kind of residence. Oracle let out a slight giggle as she gently put down the guard she was carrying. Oracle wriggled her fingers around rhythmically for a few moments and began chanting some words in a low voice. Her words seemed to come out as though they were reversed.

"Flesruoy laever esaelP .elcarO ,I si tI." Oracle's words chanted out. At her reverse command, a shimmering illusion of a home began revealing itself. After a few moments, the home became completely revealed. Brittni stared, mouth agape at the home, not realizing that in her distraction, the guard she was carrying fell off her shoulders. She took a few steps towards the home and admired it greatly. Whereas Brittni was used to the edged, pronged rooftops and metal, industrial walls of the Fright Zone, Oracle's home featured elegantly crafted wood walls, a shingled roof, stained glass windows, and vines overgrowing around the house. Brittni was in awe at the beauty that she had never before seen. Oracle turned to Brittni after finishing her chanting and chuckled a bit.

"Based on that gleam in your eye, I assume that you've never seen a country home before?" Oracle guessed. Brittni's attention to the home was so focused that Oracle's words were basically inaudible. Brittni was walking towards it, continuing to admire it.

"Oh, wow…" Brittni said, admirably, "it's beautiful." Oracle smiled.

"Thank you, daughter." Oracle said, familially. She then turned to the two guards, "now, as much as I appreciate your adoration of my home, I think it'd be best if we brought your escort inside." Oracle suggested.

"Yes, of course!" Brittni beamed up. And with that, the mother and daughter picked up the two guards and brought them inside to be healed. One was placed on a couch, and the other a coffee table. Brittni very quickly checked their gauze pads to see if the bleeding has stopped.

"I'm going to have to give them a hemostatic shot to coagulate the blood. After that, I'm going to need to sew up their wounds. I checked the poison and it's harmless once it runs its course, so I don't think I'll need to do a gastric suction. They'll make it, but they'll be out for a while." Brittni diagnosed. Oracle smiled, impressed with Brittni's nursing skills.

"I'm very proud of your skills, Brittni. Nursing is one of the most laudable and benevolent occupations a person can undertake." Oracle said, happily. Brittni looked back and smiled. Oracle added, "would you mind if I worked on one while you worked on the other?" Oracle inquired.

"Ooo, you know medical treatments?" Brittni inquired. Oracle smirked.

"Something like that." Oracle said, winking. Oracle walked over to the one laying on the table and knelt down, putting her hand to his neck. She began chanting in reverse like she did with her home:

"!delaeh eb ot ydob siht dnammoc I ,roivaS eht fo eman eht nI" Oracle reverse spoked. After a few moments, Brittni witnessed something astounding. Oracle removed the gauze pad that was covering the neck wound, and to Brittni's amazement, the wound had completely closed. Brittni let out a gasp and moved over, feeling the neck. She switched glances between the neck and Oracle.

"Bu- Wha- How- How did you do that?! And for that matter, what did you do?" Brittni inquired, breathlessly. Oracle closed her glowing yellow eyes and grinned.

"Something that you'll be able to do yourself one day." Oracle declared. Brittni gazed at Oracle intently.

"You… you mean I'll be able to do… magic?" Brittni inquired. Oracle smiled even wider as she stood up. She then put both of her hands on Brittni's shoulders and looked deeply into Brittni's eyes.

"My child, you will be able to do more than you could ever imagine…" Oracle declared.

_Meanwhile, Glimmer had led her newly formed following away from the Fright Zone…_

The horizon had become more clear, and the smog had dissipated once the skiff that was stolen by Glimmer's party left the Fright Zone. In a way, it was almost symbolic to Glimmer. Seeing the fresh horizon after escaping the smoggy atmosphere of the Fright Zone seemed as though it were a new start for her. She was at the bow of the ship, gazing at the world before her. She had severed ties with the Rebellion. Any feelings that she had regarding her mother or the Rebellion she created were pushed deep down and buried under a combination of anger and vengeance. She was now her own person that would be able to make her own rules. She had received no mercy from the Horde, and soon, they would receive none from her. One of her newly found followers nervously approached her.

"Um, excuse me, Miss Glimmer?" The man began.

"What is it?" Glimmer responded without turning towards him. He took off his hat and began squeezing it nervously between his two hands.

"Well, ma'am, the men and I were wondering… where exactly are we going?" The man asked. Glimmer let out a slight chortle then turned her head towards him. Her glowing, dark purple eyes seemed to stare through his soul. The man shuddered and gulped rather loudly.

"To where the end of my old life began…" Glimmer began cryptically. She turned her head forward then finished her statement:

"Elberon…"

_Meanwhile, at the Kingdom of Bright Moon…_

Queen Angella was in absolute shambles upon hearing the news that was borne to her by Adora and Bow. Not only did the Princess Rebellion collapse yet again, but her very daughter, even Glimmer, had severed ties with both her and the Rebellion. Angella had her head in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably, completely distraught at all that had transpired. Although she was in one way, happy that her daughter was alive and escaped, she was crushed that she refused to come back. Angella, along with Adora and Bow were in the war room, initially to discuss the Rebellion's next move, but ended up becoming a support group session. All three of them had become greatly discouraged at their current state. After a little while, Angella sniffled and wiped away the tears that she could. A few strands of tears continued coming out, but she attempted as much as she could to regain her composure. She then took a deep breath and began speaking.

"How could this happen…?" Angella asked aloud, "what on Etheria would cause Glimmer to do something like this?" Adora and Bow switched glances between each other and Angella, not completely sure of what to say. After a few moments, Adora decided to speak.

"Your majesty, Glimmer might have been corrupted from the Black Garnet." Adora suggested. "While Shadow Weaver tried to do her mind wipe thing, the Black Garnet's energy surged through Glimmer's head. Glimmer then started… I dunno, absorbing it or something." Adora explained. Angella let out a deep sigh.

"Even still, that does not explain why she would refuse to come back. She obviously had not completely come under Shadow Weaver's control if she…" Angella shuddered a bit before she finished her statement, "...killed Shadow Weaver." Adora and Bow nodded. Suddenly, Adora remembered back to one of the things Glimmer said about Angella.

"Wait, your majesty. When Hordak gave you his ultimatum, what did you tell him you would do?" Adora inquired. Angella looked up from her hands and blinked at Adora.

"Well… I told Hordak that I would accept his conditions and surrender myself." Angella said. Adora began rubbing her chin and looked down, pondering what Glimmer said.

"Glimmer told me that you were willing to sacrifice her and that you were going to allow them to kill her." Adora claimed in suspicion. Angella gasped loudly.

"What? That's preposterous! I said no such thing. I ordered my General to say-" Angella began before widening her eyes, suddenly piecing together what really happened. Angella was silent for a few moments. Her voice began low with her next statement, "...Arya was ordered to deliver my message to Hordak that I accepted his conditions…" Angella's voice then became more agitated and her breathing became heavier, "... However, I think Arya had different intentions…" Angella said as she stood up.

"Adora, Bow, come with me. We're going to have a little chat with the General…"

_Meanwhile, back at Oracle's home… _

Brittni was completely astonished by Oracle's handiwork of healing the guard. Brittni knelt down while examining the guard. She checked all of his vital signs and saw that they had went from being orangish-red to shooting up to green.

"Telemetry is stable, vitality is in the green, blood is being replenished at super speeds…" Brittni muttered as she analyzed the guard's vitals. She then turned her head to Oracle, "this is amazing. In my entire medical career, I have never seen such a rapid recovery… and this is all done by… magic?" Brittni inquired. Oracle smiled and nodded.

"Indeed. This is the magic that is inherent to our family. Intrinsically, you and your brother are connected to me, which makes you connected to the crystal ball, the source of our magic." Oracle clarified. Brittni stood up and walked over to the guard that was on the couch then knelt next to him. Brittni considered what Oracle was saying. She always knew that with her and Brett's powers of observation that they were magical in some kind of way, but she never guessed that their powers came from a magical source.

"So… does that mean you can teach me to heal?" Brittni inquired, looking back at Oracle. Oracle winked.

"I can. But for now, I am interested in seeing your nursing abilities in action. I already have some blood ready for you. Sadly, I saw your arrival too late. All I knew was that I had to have blood ready for you." Oracle said as she walked into her kitchen. A moment later she returned with a chilled blood bag. She then added, "I happen to have O- blood. It's been very convenient being a universal donor." Brittni was yet again astounded by Oracle's clairvoyant abilities. She simply nodded and accepted the blood. Brittni then pulled an IV from her medical bag and began the procedure of administering the blood by finding a big enough vein for her to inject the IV into.

"Well, this transfusion will take a little while to administer, but he's going to be okay. The hemostatic shot stopped the blood, and the poison will dissipate within a day or so." Brittni diagnosed. Oracle walked over to Brittni and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Very impressive. I can only imagine the best from one of my family." Oracle said, chuckling. Brittni smiled. There were two vacant chairs in the room and Oracle motioned for Brittni to have a seat. Oracle went to the kitchen to brew some tea and returned a few minutes later. While Brittni was waiting in the chair, she inspected the rest of the room. There were a few interesting looking statues and paintings. One of the paintings was of a man that was walking on water. Brittni eyed that painting suspiciously.

"_Hmm, must be a Prince if he can magically walk on the water." _Brittni thought to herself. Oracle returned to the room with the tea and set it upon a coffee table between a rocking chair and Brittni's seat. Oracle then took her seat in the free rocking chair that was a few feet away from Brittni.

"You know, I used to rock you and Brett in this chair…" Oracle began, letting a few tears stream down her cheeks. As she wiped the tears away, she continued, "even though I received the vision of the Horde giving you the proper skills and training in order to fight this upcoming war, I always hated myself for going through with it. Even though I knew it was the right thing to do, it never felt right… well, at least until now. The Horde, despite their moral implications, managed to give you and Brett proper training and education that I would have never been able to do. After all, to most I'm simply a reclusive, magical hermit that lives off crops that she grows." Oracle said, chuckling. Brittni nodded.

"I'm not mad at you for giving us to the Horde. If you really felt that it was the best thing for you do, obviously it was. I get it, the Horde does have a seemingly innumerable amount of resources. I guess you could just call it an elongated boarding school." Brittni suggested, chuckling. Oracle smiled, but still felt bad on the inside.

"Well, I do thank you for your understanding… I just hope that both you and Brett can forgive me." Oracle said, apologetically. Brittni smiled and reached out her hand. Oracle switched glances between Brittni's hand and her smiling face. Oracle returned the smile and reached her hand out to hold her daughter's hand for a few moments. Oracle then added, "yes, well… thank you, Brittni." Brittni winked and pulled her hand back. Oracle sat back and began rocking in the chair. Brittni then leaned forward in her chair and gazed intently at Oracle.

"So… I gotta know. That whole, being able to see the future thing? And healing? I'll be able to do all that?" Brittni inquired. Oracle smirked.

"Well, you already know how to heal." Oracle teased. Brittni rolled her eyes and giggled.

"C'mon, you know what I mean!" Brittni protested. Oracle chuckled.

"Yes, yes. You and Brett both have the power to do both of those. And I will teach you how to do it. You both already have what is known as the 'Gift of Discernment.'" Brittni cocked her eyebrow.

"You mean our ability to observe with precision?" Brittni inquired. Oracle nodded.

"Indeed. All three of us are the bearers of what's known as the 'Gifts of the Spirit.' They are, the Gift of Prophecy, the Gift of Healing, and the Gift of Discernment." Oracle clarified. Brittni sat back in her chair for a few moments pondering everything that was just told her. She then leaned forward to grab a cup of tea and sipped it while contemplating everything that Oracle had told her. After putting the teacup back on the plate she looked at Oracle.

"When can we start?" Brittni inquired? Oracle grinned.

"Immediately."

_Meanwhile, back at the Fright Zone… _

Brett woke up a little while later in a daze. The electricity that surged through him had finally passed, and he was able to feel his limbs again. He groaned heavily as he sat up and rubbed his head.

"Ugh…" Brett groaned as he blinked his eyes and looked around. His head felt as though a mace had whacked his forehead. The prison control tower was covered in puddles from the water that was controlled by Mermista. Noticing the water, Brett carefully picked himself up and stumbled out of the tower onto the platform outside, holding onto the rails for support. He looked down and witnessed the guards piling the now dead corpses of both the Horde soldiers and prison escapees onto carts to be taken to the incinerator. As Brett observed the abhorrence that was happening below, he wondered how the security of the Horde could have been compromised so easily.

"Adora…" Brett muttered to himself. Adora knew the Fright Zone like the back of her hand. She knew all the codes, all the escape routes. Once her name escaped his mouth, Brett was filled with a vindictive rage. In his moment of anger he slammed his fist down, slightly bending the bar of the rail beneath him. The armored glove and adrenaline kept Brett from feeling much pain as he hit the rail. It was at that moment that he felt a vengeful determination. Brett no longer cared about all the ethical dilemmas that Adora had presented to him back at the Princess prom. At that point, he was angry, and he made a vow at that moment.

"I'm going to kill you, Adora…" Brett muttered bitterly as he started walking to the platform that would take him down to the first level. Once Brett arrived on the first level, he walked through the crowds of the cleanup crews and was outraged at the level of disorder and destruction that the Princess Alliance left. The prison was left in disarray with the Horde losing around seventy percent of their prisoners, either by fatality or escape. Every wall that was in between the Black Garnet chamber and the Vehicle Bay was cracked open thanks to Glimmer's new abilities. On top of that destruction, many of the fatalities from the prison breakout were Horde soldiers. Brett shuddered in anger seeing his home in this shape. He knew that he was going to go after the princesses, it was just a matter of time. Soon enough, as Brett traipsed through different sectors looking for anywhere to help out, he ended up seeing Catra in the hallway leading to Hordak's sanctum. Brett quickly ran over to her.

"Catra, you alright?" Brett inquired. Catra looked back, seeing him follow her and scoffed.

"Are you stalking me now?" Catra asked, flippantly. Brett narrowed his eyes at her then marched towards her, stopping within a foot of her. She squared herself up, thinking he might attack. Brett was not about to fight Catra, but he did not have much patience, and made it known with his next statement.

"Catra, is this really the time for you to be so snide? I just asked if you were okay." Brett snapped. Catra glared at Brett and hissed for a moment. She then looked away and sighed.

"I didn't manage to take out any princesses… so, no I'm not really okay." Catra said, seeming to open up. Brett nodded.

"Yeah… that's about how I feel." Brett said sighing. He then looked away and added, "I'm ready for revenge…" Catra slightly opened her mouth in surprise for a moment, then grinned devilishly. She then put her hand on his shoulder.

"Then let's get revenge…" Catra suggested. Brett smiled devilishly back at her and nodded.

"Alright, let's help get this place cleaned up, and then we can figure out where to strike next." Brett suggested. During this touching talk of vengeance, a friendly face appeared in the hallway. Brett and Catra turned towards it and saw Scorpia.

"Oh! Man, I am so glad you two are okay. Those princesses sure did a number didn't they?" Scorpia asked, chuckling. Brett and Catra narrowed their eyes at Scorpia. Scorpia took notice and scratched the back of her neck.

"Err, right. Well, despite all the bad news, I have some good news!" Catra's ears perked up and Brett gazed at Scorpia with interest. Scorpia then cleared her throat.

"We passed the inspection!" Scorpia declared. Catra and Brett switched glances between each other and Scorpia then smacked their foreheads. Scorpia looked at them in confusion, "well, don't worry. We'll be able to get this place back in tip top shape before the next inspection!" Catra groaned and Brett exhaled a deep breath of air. Scorpia then ran over to them both and wrapped them both in hugs. Catra let out a cat-like screech while Brett's eyes widened and his breath became more pronounced.

"Scor...pi...a!" The two wheezed out from being crushed by her hug.

"Oh, right. Sorry!" Scorpia said as she gently put them down. "Well, anyway! Let's get this place fixed up." Scorpia said as she ran back towards the prison. Brett and Catra gazed at each other and shook their heads. Eventually, the duo made their way to go help the rest of the Horde patch up the damage that was caused from the princesses.

_Meanwhile, the skiff that Glimmer and her followers had stolen landed a few miles from Elberon…_

Glimmer had ordered the helmsman to make land relatively close to Elberon. It was getting close to nighttime, and Glimmer wanted herself and her followers to get some rest before they attacked Elberon. With the power Glimmer absorbed from the Black Garnet, she felt as though she could take Elberon back all by herself. Still, even though she felt powerful, she hadn't lost her sense of tactics. She knew that she was going to need an army to retake Elberon, and they were going to need their rest. On their way out, the prisoners managed to steal laser weaponry and some pieces of armor, so they were at least remotely prepared to fight. The skiff landed in an open-ish field that was surrounded by a sea of trees. Glimmer figured this would be a good place for them to make camp because of its space for tents, yet its enclosure for protection. Once the skiff landed, everybody but Glimmer hopped off the skiff. When they all jumped off, most stood at attention, looking to her for guidance. However, there were a few others that began walking away. Glimmer took notice and glared

"Where do you think you're going?" Glimmer demanded. A group of about five looked back as they were walking away. One of them spoke up.

"Hey, look, thanks for getting us out and everything. Really, we do appreciate it, but we're gonna go ahead and go our separate ways. Thanks again." He, and the rest of the group then turned again and started walking away. At least, until they all felt a dark, electrical field surround their bodies. They looked around and saw a dark purple aura surrounding them. Suddenly, they involuntary began moving their bodies to face Glimmer who was now within a foot from their faces. She grinned devilishly at them.

"Before you go, I'd like to show you what I can offer you. How about hearing me out before you take off?" Glimmer asked, almost threateningly. The one that spoke for the group attempted to nod his head, but any movement he made caused him pain.

"Oh, right, let me get that for you." Glimmer said as she snapped her fingers and the group fell out of her binding aura. They all fell to the ground and began gasping for breath. She smirked and walked back to the skiff, hopping onto it.

"Now, listen up. I don't know what any of you did to find yourselves within the Horde's prison, and frankly, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that all of us, including me, have been wronged by the Horde. Etheria used to be a peaceful, free planet before the Horde started their invasion. The Rebellion was formed in order to combat the Horde, and where has that gotten us? More and more towns and villages are getting ransacked and destroyed, and what has the Rebellion done?" Glimmer shouted. She then started pacing around the skiff, staring at the crowd, then continued, "seemingly nothing… well, that's where we're going to come in." Glimmer then stopped and gazed intently at the crowd, looking at everyone's faces. Some seemed to be interested in what she had to say, others didn't. She took note of this and continued.

"Then again, there's some of you that don't really care about any of that. But let me ask you this: Who of your family members and friends died at the hands of the Horde? Huh?!" Glimmer demanded to know. The crowd started talking amongst themselves in agreement. Glimmer smirked, "and who's the one that took away your liberty? Your freedom?! At this point, I don't care if you were a master thief or a serial killer. At this very moment, we are all united by one cause…" The crowd went silent as Glimmer took a few moments to give her finishing line.

"To destroy the Horde!" Glimmer shouted. Upon that proclamation, the crowd went wild with cheering. At that moment, any doubt any of them had of following Glimmer had dissipated. At this moment, they were ready to follow her to the ends of Etheria. Glimmer grinned devilishly.

"That's what I like to see. Tomorrow! We stage our first act as the first true opposition to the Horde. We retake Elberon and make it our headquarters. After that, we're going to raid more of their outposts, take more of their resources, and build our numbers. As soon as we get the numbers and resources, we're going to finally invade the Fright Zone and put Hordak's head on a pike!" The crowd cheered even louder upon hearing the violence that Glimmer was inciting. They were ready, and she was going to be proud to lead them to victory. She began laughing maniacally, almost drunk with the power that she was feeling. Whatever strand of righteousness that Glimmer had felt before had seemingly begun being buried deep within her, covered with anger and hatred. She didn't care about that anymore though, she enjoyed this feeling so much. Everything seemed to go according to plan. Suddenly, however, a slow clap seemed to slowly silence the overbearing crowd. Glimmer looked beyond the crowd to see a dark figure slowly peer out of the woods, clapping her hands as she moved towards the crowd. Glimmer squinted her eyes at the dark figure and realized it was a feminine figure in a black bodysuit, wearing purple gloves, armor pieces, and an ornamental mask. The crowd also turned, gasping at the distinctive looking woman. She stopped her clap as she looked around the crowd.

"Identify yourself!" Glimmer commanded. The dark figure began chuckling.

"You may call me Void." Void said, introducing herself.

"What do you want?" Glimmer demanded.

"Ah, well you see, my spies had just revealed to me the most interesting news. You see, they say that a contingent of the Rebellion actually broke into the Fright Zone and managed to stage a prison break, with their prize releases being none other than Master Archer Bow, and, more importantly, Princess Glimmer." Void explained. She then took a few steps closer. One of Glimmer's followers stepped in front of Void, attempting to blockade her. Void, faster than a bullet, moved on him, shoving her fist into his stomach. He wheezed out some blood and fell forward. Upon his falling forward, Void raised her knee, striking his nose, severely dislocating it. Then, as quick as a flash, she ran through the crowd, avoiding anybody that dared try to attack her. Void then front flipped onto the skiff a foot away from Glimmer, then added, "I just had to see the Princess for myself." Void said, almost mockingly. Glimmer let out a loud growl and dove towards Void to give her a right cross to her face. Void was too quick, however, and simply moved out of the way, forcing Glimmer to fall off the skiff. Right before Glimmer landed on the ground, however, she pointed at Void, surrounding her in her dark purple aura. Void looked round about her body and shuddered.

"What? How?-" Void began protesting before Glimmer, using her full power, forced Void off the skiff onto the ground, right before Glimmer landed on top of her. Once Glimmer was on top of Void she cocked her fist back ready to hit her. Void grabbed Glimmer's fist before that happened. The two struggled for a few moments before Void let out a slight chuckle that quickly evolved into boisterous laughter. Glimmer grunted, confused by Void's jaunty attitude. Void then spoke.

"Well done, very well done, Princess Glimmer! You're just as I expected! Although, I thought your powers were teleportation, not telekinesis." Void admitted. Glimmer glared at Void.

"What do you want?!" Glimmer demanded. Void toned down her laughing until it dampened, then lowered her tone to more serious.

"I came to offer my services. Last I checked you were apart of the Rebellion, yes?" Void offered. Glimmer scoffed and picked herself up off Void.

"I'm done with the Rebellion and their ever growing deficiency. They claim that they're the ones that are going to liberate Etheria from the Horde, but all they've done is sit by while the Horde takes what it wants. I decided to make my own organization where we follow our own rules and our own way of destroying the Horde." Glimmer declared. Void slowly picked herself up and smiled under her mask.

"You can't imagine how happy I am to hear that, Glimmer." Void said, "you see, I was once a member of the Rebellion, but the Queen had me banished. She said that my methods were too strong, too cruel. So, I raided a few Horde settlements and slaughtered everyone. So I tortured a few soldiers. Whatever it meant for victory was what I was willing to do." Void declared. While listening to Void, Glimmer found herself subconsciously nodding. She so desperately wanted to get back at the Horde that she was willing to slaughter anyone in her way to kill Hordak and destroy the Horde.

"I know how you feel…" Glimmer said, looking away for a few moments. She sighed then looked back at Void, "okay, you want to support us. But what do you have to offer, and what's in it for you?" Glimmer demanded. Void let out a slight chuckle.

"Well… for starters, your little army is kind of ragtag." Void said, looking around at the crowd, "I can supply them with more efficient armor and weapons… In addition, what I have to offer is right behind me." Void said. She turned back and whistled into her fingers. Once she whistled, a large group of armor-clad ninja-looking soldiers jumped from the trees. Glimmer stared in awe as the group under Void's command stood at attention, awaiting Void's order. Void presented the group with her hand faced towards them and gave introductions.

"These are my soldiers. We are known as Night Moon. We were formed in response to the Horde and the Rebellion's lax attitude towards them." Glimmer nodded, impressed. She then folded her arms.

"Okay, so a big supplement to my followers. I could definitely use that… and Night Moon… hmmm." Glimmer pondered the name and grinned. "That's catchy, and fitting for what happened to me." Glimmer said. She then asked, "okay, I do appreciate the support, but I'm still curious. You sought us out but didn't know anything about us. So how else do you benefit besides helping us destroy the Horde?" Glimmer inquired. Void smirked under her mask and put her hand on Glimmer's shoulder.

"Well, I would hope that destroying the Horde would be enough motivation for us to join together… but nothing is ever that simple, is it?" Void suggested. She took her hand off Glimmer and took a step back, then added, "you see, Glimmer, there's a very particular and personal reason that I sought you out…" Void then put both hands on her mask and removed it. Glimmer's jaw dropped harder than Rock Lee's weights when he took them off his ankles. Void's face! It looked just like… Just like…

Queen Angella.

Void smirked, and gazed at Glimmer, pleased by her surprise.

"It's good to meet you… my niece."

**How about that surprise? I feel like I haven't done one of these commentary things for a while. Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I felt like we could use a breather from the intensity of the last chapter *phew.* There's a lot of intense content coming soon! **

**Oh, by the way. Please check out a couple of She-Ra fanfics written by my good friend, ChicaFenix88. Mind you, they are in Spanish, but Google translate works wonders!**

** s/13371602/1/Sensitive**

** s/13465505/1/Friends-with-Friends**


	26. Chapter 26: Vengeance & Penitence

Chapter 26: Vengeance and Penitence

_Back at Bright Moon, Queen Angella makes her way to find General Arya and… deal with her appropriately… _

Queen Angella uncharacteristically stomped through the castle, headed towards the barracks where General Arya was stationed. Adora and Bow quietly followed behind, keeping their distance. The barracks was a short walk from the castle entrance. As Angella made her way outside, the brightness of the sun illuminated her overarching scowl. She had never felt more furious in her life, and those that were unlucky enough to be in her way were shouted at to get out of her way. Most people had never seen anything but happy words and humility from the Queen, so for the citizens that were witnessing Angella's behavior were quite disturbed. After arriving to the door of the barracks, Angella clutched the knob of the door firmer than a vise, and ripped the door open. Once the door swung open, Angella saw a few soldiers sparring that immediately stopped from the commotion. She marched inside and went up to the closest person and grabbed him by the shoulders, lifting him a foot off the ground.

"Where. Is. Arya?!" Angella demanded as her eyes curved into the deepest glare she could muster.

"Uh.. uh..!" The soldier stammered, nervously.

"Answer me!" Angella growled. Bow, with every ounce of bravery in his soul, crept up to Angella and attempted to reason with her.

"Uh, Your Majesty, I think if-" Bow began before Angella turned her scowled face towards him. Upon seeing her irate countenance, Bow's normally dark skin began to pale from the fear he felt from Angella's anger. He nervously chuckled and slowly backed up to Adora. Adora was also not about to tempt Angella's wrath and kept her distance. Finally one of the other soldiers spoke up.

"She's at the training yard!" the soldier spoke up. Angella looked to her and hmphed.

"Thank you." Angella said as she dropped the soldier she was holding. He stumbled a bit and fell backwards. Angella, without a second thought, stomped out of the barracks and towards the training yard. Sure enough, she found Arya performing drills with the soldiers. At the moment, they were doing burpees and fireman carries.

"Arya!" Angella shouted at the top of her lungs as she made a beeline towards her. Arya had her back faced towards Angella. She let out a rather long sigh and slowly turned towards the Queen.

"Yes, Your Majes-" Arya began before Angella moved within inches of Arya's face and grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up further than the soldier she had grabbed earlier. Arya was surprised by Angella's strength; though much of said strength was from the adrenaline that was surging through her body. Arya struggled while her soldiers stopped and stared in horror at the Queen making a scene.

"Your Highness, please, what are you-" Arya tried to speak again before being interrupted.

"Did you tell Hordak to kill my daughter?!" Angella demanded. Arya shuddered.

"My Queen, please, I-" Arya, once again started. Angella was fully enraged at this point. With the adrenaline still flowing, Angella body slammed Arya onto the ground. Arya let out a grunt and a groan as she hit the ground.

"Did you tell Hordak to kill her?! Answer me, Arya!" Angella shrieked, beginning to tear up at this point. Arya's lip quivered as she looked deeply into Angella's eyes. She then looked down and let out another elongated sigh.

"I… I told Hordak that you rejected his demands. I couldn't let you surrender yourself and the Rebellion, Your Highness. I-" Arya admitted, and was yet again, interrupted. This time by a punch. Angella had struck Arya in the face, with her head hitting the grass. Despite the grass cushioning the blow, Arya was still rendered unconscious by Angella's adrenaline boosted right hook. Everybody in attendance switched glances between Arya and Angella. Angella was hunched over Arya and panting as though she had just ran a marathon. Adora and Bow slowly approached Angella.

"Qu...Queen Angella?" Bow asked, carefully. Angella turned to him, the scowl still remaining on her face.

"Take this traitor to the prison!" Angella commanded.

_ Meanwhile, back at the Fright Zone… _

Catra, Scorpia, and Brett had finished helping the rest of the guards clear out the corpses from the prison. The group was uncharacteristically quiet, disturbed by the massacre that ensued from the princesses' attack. The more bodies they moved, the more the fiery indignation burned within Brett. His breathing became more and more pronounced the more bodies he hoisted onto the carts destined to the incinerator. Scorpia was melancholy towards this dirty work, and Catra was seemingly apathetic. Once they were done, Catra spoke.

"You know, since this plan failed, that must mean that Shadow Weaver's going to be blamed for this…" Catra said, grinning devilishly. Scorpia gasped.

"Maybe you'll even get a promotion!" Scorpia cheered while holding her claws close together in anticipation. Brett simply nodded.

"Only one way to find out, let's go to the Black Garnet chamber." Brett suggested. And with that, the group made their way to the chamber. Scorpia, trying to be polite knocked on the door. Catra rolled her eyes and slammed the bottom of her fist on the access button. The trio then entered in. It was dark in the chamber and the light switch didn't seem to work. Catra groaned.

"Hey, Tech Boy, get the lights on." Catra grimaced. Brett rolled his eyes and moved to where the local power panel was. He felt around it, and could tell from feeling it that it had been smashed in. Brett activated the torch function on his flamethrower which illuminated the power panel enough for him to work. After splicing a couple of wires and repairing the broken fuses, he managed to activate the lights.

"Well, looks like I…" Brett started as he turned around. But his speech was cut short at the quagmire of gore and violence that befell his eyes. Catra and Scorpia as well, shuddered in absolute horror at the state of the chamber. The entire chamber was in complete disarray. The walls had cracks, there seemed to be electrical burns in various parts of the walls, but the most distinguishing feature was the blood. There was a trail of blood that lead from a giant, humanoid shaped crack in a wall, that lead to the Black Garnet. Atop the garnet was the most horrifying aberration:

Shadow Weaver, impaled on it.

Scorpia tried to speak but sputtered out bits of horrified words. At one point she managed to say a coherent word.

"B...B...Blood..?!" Scorpia yelled before fainting towards Catra. Catra let out a loud shriek before Scorpia toppled over her. Catra growled from her predicament and motioned for Brett to help her. He ran over and pulled Scorpia off then held out his hand to help Catra up, but she simply picked herself up. Brett, still disturbed by Shadow Weaver's demise turned towards her body and let out a nervous exhale of breath.

"The princesses…" Brett muttered, "I can't believe they killed Shadow Weaver..." Catra said nothing but simply walked over to the garnet. Although horrified by the grisly scene, Catra felt more anger than disgust. Catra punched the Black Garnet and growled. Brett eyed her suspiciously.

"Um, what's your problem? I thought you hated Shadow Weaver." Brett inquired.

"I do hate Shadow Weaver. But I was supposed to be the one that did this to her! I never even got to see the look on her face when I succeeded where she failed!" Catra yelled, without looking at Brett. Brett narrowed his eyes at her.

"That's what you care about? Lord forbid that we lost not only our second-in-command, but the one person that knew everything about Etheria! And all you care about is getting revenge on her?" Brett snapped. Catra shifted her head towards Brett and glared deeply at him.

"We don't need some magical witch to guide us through Etheria, we can do that ourselves! Aren't you and your sister the most observant beings on the planet? You two can figure everything out about the planet just by looking at it. And as for her being the second-in-command, well…" Catra said as she turned her head back to the garnet. She pushed her claws onto the garnet and scraped them down, leaving scrape marks as her claws went down. She then let out a sigh and turned towards Brett again, "it's time for a new second-in-command. Not one that's obsessed with perfecting her magic, abusing her cadets… or favors a traitor that she tried to bring back into our ranks. No, this is definitely my time. Nobody is ever going to question me, or have authority over me, or abuse me ever again!" Brett was taken aback and let out a slight scoff.

"Whoa, hold on. You have no idea what this means. How do you figure that Hordak is going to-"

"Enough, Infiltration Saboteur." Catra said, glaring at him. Brett returned the glare.

"Catra, you only want the job because you want to have power." Brett said, lowering his tone. Catra gritted her teeth and hissed. Brett, despite her anger continued, "I get it. Growing up… you've had a tough life…" Brett muttered while letting out a sigh and looking away. He then added, "and I didn't help you even when I could have…" Brett said bitterly. He then looked at Catra again.

"But you don't need to try to take Shadow Weaver's place just because you're afraid of somebody abusing you again." Brett muttered. Catra shuddered for a moment, tears beginning to well up in her eyes. Upon feeling the tears, Catra shook her head and let out a hissy growl. She then glared at Brett.

"I don't need a lecture from anybody, Infiltration Saboteur! Go take Scorpia and get her to the medbay or something. Just… just get out!" Catra yelled. Brett said nothing. He looked into Catra's monochromatic eyes and seemed to stare into her soul. Behind Catra's anger, Brett knew, that she knew, that he was right. Nevertheless, he did not want to continue provoking her and simply nodded and saluted her.

"Yes, Force Captain." Brett said as he went over and picked up Scorpia, hoisting her over his shoulders, grunting a bit from the size of Scorpia. He then started out of the chamber, taking one last look at Catra before he finally walked out. Catra looked at Shadow Weaver again and hissed. She took another swipe at the garnet, leaving another scar on the garnet. She then marched out of the chamber and headed to Hordak's sanctum.

Hordak had lost all of his patience at this point. Even though much of the Fright Zone had become a mess from all of the firefights that happened within it, nothing compared to what Hordak did to his lab. When he found out that Shadow Weaver died, the Princesses successfully rescued Glimmer and Bow, and the Horde lost many of their prisoners, Hordak saw nothing but red. He picked up objects that were normally too heavy for him and threw them across the room, smashing them into the walls. He growled animalistically as he had his temper tantrum. In the midst of his anger, an individual made the grave mistake of attempting to bother him.

"Um, Lord Hordak…?" Catra said as she walked into his sanctum, unannounced. Hordak was laying across his workbench, physically and emotionally drained from all of the manifestations of his anger that he had just experienced. He was breathing deeply and sweating profusely. When he heard Catra's voice he turned part of his body, still laying on the workbench.

"What do you want, Force Captain?!" Hordak demanded. Catra stopped her advance and attempted to choose her words carefully.

"Lord Hordak, I just wanted to let you know that all of the prisoners that were left within the Fright Zone have been accounted for, and-" Catra began before Hordak let out a loud growl. He slammed his fist onto the workbench, causing many of the tools and beakers to fly off. His breathing then returned to a more deep and rhythmic panting. He then completely picked himself off the workbench.

"...I'm guessing you already found out about Shadow Weaver." Catra muttered. Hordak marched over to Catra and calmed himself down a bit.

"Yes, I've heard of her demise… it is of no consequence." Hordak said, rather callously. He then put his hand to his chin as if in deep thought and went silent for a few moments. He then let out a slight grunt and nodded his head, then continued, "however, there are two things to take into account moving forward." Hordak began. He then walked over to a strongbox located near his workbench.

"What two things, Lord Hordak?" Catra inquired. Hordak opened up the strongbox and reached inside.

"The first is that we need to strengthen our security. I want scouts and patrols within a mile of the Fright Zone. I want checkpoints and updated passcodes." Hordak said as he pulled out a badge and marched back to Catra. He then placed the badge into her hand. Catra looked down on it and widened her eyes. The badge gleamed in the light, but upon closer inspection, the badge declared its recipient the second-in-command of the Horde. Catra gasped and switched glances between the badge and Hordak.

"Seeing as how Shadow Weaver has had her… sudden termination, I have decided to grant you her position and all the authority that comes with it." Hordak said peering deeply into her eyes. Catra gasped in excitement but also in confusion.

"You're promoting me… to your second-in-command?" Catra inquired. Hordak let out a breathy 'hmm.' A moment later, the imp flew passed Catra's hair, startling her. The imp then perched onto a pipe and opened its mouth, letting Catra's voice come out of it.

"_it's time for a new second-in-command… No, this is definitely my time…" _The imp said in Catra's voice. Catra blinked a few times at the imp then turned to Hordak.

"I see that you already had this aspiration, Force Captain. You've proven yourself to me at the capture of the rebel officers. Perhaps you could prove your worth again in the future?" Hordak said. Catra stared for a few moments until she narrowed her eyes and grinned.

"Anything to crush the rebels, Lord Hordak."

_Meanwhile, back at the Bright Moon 'Prison'... _

Bright Moon once had an expansive prison back before the early days of Hordak's invasion. When Queen Angella took the throne shortly before her mother died; (This was the same mother that imposed taxes upon Hordak and his followers, thus, indirectly starting the war,) she had made drastic changes to her mother's rule. All the prisoners were, in a sense, set free. Instead they were put into rehabilitation camps where they would serve a sentence of performing community service and simultaneously attend meetings to help them modify their behavior. It was largely successful and ended up eliminating much crime. However, this did not mean there was not a location to hold a traitor. Arya was brought to a spare room in the castle where she was encased in some kind of magical energy field. After a little while Arya woke up, groaning and rubbing the part of her head that Angella hit. Arya sat up and looked around. Instead of being in a prison, she found herself surrounded by cushions, a bed, and an overall nice atmosphere. Arya's eyes curved into suspicion, wondering where she was.

"Am I… Is this a prison?" Arya questioned to no one in particular. A few moments later, Bow, Adora, and Queen Angella marched in. Angella retained her bitter scowl while Adora and Bow's expressions revealed their anxiety. Angella approached the energy field with her hands folded behind her back.

"My Queen…" Arya began.

"Silence! You will speak when spoken to. Now answer my question…" Angella yelled. She took a few moments to breathe and gather her breath. Tears then began to well up in Angella's eyes, but she mustered the strength to pose her next question:

"How could you do this to her?! How could you sacrifice my daughter?!"Angella demanded. Arya frowned and looked away for a moment. After taking a deep sigh, Arya looked back.

"I did this for the Rebellion, Your Majesty. I did this so that the Rebellion would thrive." Arya submitted.

"At no heed to the cost!" Angella screamed, "because of you, my daughter's mind was almost wiped! She could have died! And now, she thinks that I'm the one that allowed Hordak to kill her! I've lost my daughter!" Angella began crying. The tears warm from the fiery indignation that was surging through Angella's body. Arya shuddered from seeing the Queen so somber. Arya did not realize the full extent of her actions until she saw the pain manifested by Angella. Arya sighed.

"Your Highness… Angella. I'm… I'm sorry." Arya said, humbly. Angella wiped her tears and slowly lifted up her head towards Arya.

"You're sorry?" Angella challenged, "you're sorry?! You're sorry that you nearly killed my daughter?! You're sorry that she now hates me?! You're sorry that-" Angella was then interrupted by Bow.

"Your Majesty!" Bow began. Angella turned towards him, with her scowl more deep than before. Bow swallowed hard then bravely continued, "if I may, Your Highness, maybe we could go find Glimmer? After all, the Fright Zone jailbreak that we staged managed to get rid of a lot of Horde soldiers. With this hit against them, it's going to take a little while for the Horde to recover, so I think we're going to have a few quiet days. On top of that, ever since we established the Princess Alliance, we've managed to recruit a lot of new soldiers. We can send out some scouts and see what they come up with." Bow suggested. Angella's scowl began softening. She sniffled and wiped away her tears. She then glanced at Arya for a few moments, then back to Bow and Adora. Angella then let out a loud sigh.

"Perhaps, that would be the most practical thing to do…" Angella said, admittedly. She began pacing around, considering Bow's offer. She turned to them again and added, "well, ranting and raving about losing my daughter is not going to help get her back." Angella inhaled a deep breath of air then nodded at Bow, "very well, Tech Master Bow. I will grant you and Adora charge in bringing my daughter back." Adora and Bow smiled at this prospect.

"Your Highness! Allow me to go as well! Please!" Arya begged, pressing herself against the wall. Angella turned towards her and glared.

"I think you've done enough!" Angella snapped. Adora spoke up then.

"Your Majesty, if I may. It's like you said, it's the practical thing to do. Yes, Arya did something wrong, but you can let her make up for it." Adora suggested. Angella rubbed her chin as she stared deeply into Arya's eyes. Angella did see the penitence in Arya. She let out a dramatic sigh and waved her hands rhythmically. The magical energy began dissipating and Arya was free. Her countenance was still somber and her lip quivered with the modicum of forgiveness that Arya was granting her.

"Thank you, my Queen… I will atone for my crimes." Arya said humbly.

"You can never atone for what you've done, General Arya." Angella sneered. She sighed and continued, "but, if you manage to bring my daughter back, I will grant you amnesty." Arya bowed herself before Angella.

"I will make this my sole purpose in life, my Queen. I will bring Glimmer back." Arya promised. Angella glanced at Bow, Adora, and then Arya.

"See that you do…" Angella said, and walked out. Once Angella walked out, Arya could not hold in her emotions any longer. She was on her knees and began sobbing from realizing the pain that she caused.

"I'm no better than the Horde…" Arya choked out. Adora and Bow looked at each other solemnly. In one way, they were furious with Arya for what she did to Glimmer. At the same time, they understood the reasons as to why Arya did what she did. Bow knelt down next to Arya and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know that you did what you did for the sake of the Rebellion. It was an impossible decision." Bow said understandingly. Adora moved to the other side of Arya.

"I'm not sure what either of us would have done if we were in the same position." Adora admitted. Arya cried even harder. Adora put her hand on Arya's shoulder and continued, "well, what's done is done. All that matters now is that we go and get Glimmer back. Right Bow?" Bow nodded and looked at Arya. Arya paused her crying and switched glances between Bow and Adora.

"...Thank you… Thank you…" Arya said, gratefully. The trio then picked themselves up.

"Okay, you two are right. Let's go get our princess back!"

_Meanwhile, back at the Fright Zone… _

"Hey, Brett- Oh my goodness! What happened to Scorpia?!" Keirnan demanded as Brett brought her in. Brett had successfully dropped Scorpia off at the medbay. Although, 'successful' was a generous term. As Brett brought Scorpia in, he ungracefully dropped her in a gurney, which proceeded to succumb to the weight of Scorpia's person. Brett's eyes were widened in shock. Not only did Scorpia's massive exoskeleton bend the welded, refined steel. But she managed to stay unconscious! Brett simply rolled his eyes and took his leave out of the medbay.

"She's all yours, Keirnan." Brett muttered as he walked by. Keirnan switched glances between Brett and the gurney that had been demolished from Scorpia. Keirnan let out a groan and walked over to Scorpia to treat her.

Meanwhile, Brett made his way back to his quarters. It was getting late in the day and he really needed some rest at that point. Upon entry, everything in the living room was seemingly normal. That is, until he went into his own room. When he turned on the light, everything, again, seemed rather normal… until he looked at the vent. Thanks to his observational prowess, Brett noticed that there was a screw in the vent that was loosened about a millimeter from the wall. Brett narrowed his eyes at the screw and grunted.

"There's no way I left something unsecure…" Brett muttered to himself. He looked around his room and inspected all of his tools. To his astonishment, and irritation, he was missing his voltage capacitor; (essentially, a portable jump starter.)

"Wha? Who would?! Grrr…" Brett growled as he realized that somebody had broken into his quarters. He quickly grabbed a screwdriver and set to work getting his vent open. He then crouched into the vent and began his search for the assailant. The vents of the Fright Zone were a maze. They essentially lead to almost every room and outlet of the entire establishment. Nevertheless, Brett would be able to find the assailant with pinpoint accuracy, thanks to his observational powers. As he moved through the vents he found certain clues. A very slight, but fresh, dent in one place, a bit of precipitation from heavy breathing on a wall. But the most important clue that Brett began to see was hair. Purple hair to be exact. Upon the first strand of hair that Brett found he picked it up and analyzed it deeply.

"Purple hair…?" Brett questioned to himself. After a moment the hair began moving on its own. Brett gasped and let it drop at the base of the vent. The hair then began moving like an inchworm away from Brett. Despite the abnormality of what was going on, Brett cocked his eyebrow and then grinned devilishly, knowing the hair would lead to his prey. He then followed the hair. It moved rather fast, with him having to double-time his crawling. After a little while, the hair turned a particular corner and Brett could sense a presence. He readied his energy baton. As he turned the corner, his head bumped into the assailant's head.

"Ow!" Brett and the assailant said simultaneously as they began rubbing their heads. After rubbing out the injury, Brett got a good look at the assailant.

"Wait, you're-" Brett started.

"Hi, Brett!" Entrapta said, grinning.

_Meanwhile, back at Oracle's residence… _

Brittni had spent the next day learning how to use her powers from Oracle. Picking up the gift of healing was rather easy for Brittni to do. At first, Brittni was baffled by Oracle speaking in reverse. Oracle had taught Brittni that it was not so much as speaking the words, as it was _feeling_ the words. After Brittni pondered that for a moment, she thought of her knowledge of healing. She moved over to the man that she had performed her treatment on earlier and began imagining him being healed. Brittni then began feeling a warm feeling in her diaphragm that can only be described as burning in her bosom. Once she felt that, she began speaking, with her words coming out in reverse, just like Oracle's:

"!delaeh eb ot ydob siht dnammoc I ,roivaS eht fo eman eht nI" Brittni spoke in reverse. Once she spoke those words, she did an examination. The guard's vitality had risen to the green, with his blood coming back full force. Brittni chortled as she switched glances between the guard and Oracle.

"I… I did it! I healed him!" Brittni declared, pumping her hands into the air in excitement. Oracle smiled.

"I wouldn't expect any less from a child of mine." Oracle said, winking. Oracle then motioned for Brittni to follow her. Oracle lead Brittni to the room that Oracle referred to as the Seer's Sanctuary. The room was glazened with colorful tiles on the walls and ground. Different, brightened stones appeared on various end tables covering the room. In the middle was the Crystal Ball. Brittni stared in awe at its majesty. It certainly was bigger than she realized. Upon entering, Oracle explained that the next gift for Brittni to learn was the gift of prophecy. Brittni was confused, however.

"Don't you just see the future from your Crystal Ball?" Brittni inquired. Oracle smirked.

"Not exactly… you see, the Crystal Ball functions very similarly to the other runestones. It is merely a power source. We can see the future from the power that the Crystal Ball gives to us. Meaning, that the power is intrinsically in us." Oracle explained. She then peered closely into Brittni's eyes.

"What's even more amazing is that we can see the future of others by merely touching them." Oracle declared. Brittni gasped at what Oracle had said.

"We can see the future of somebody by touching them?" Brittni inquired.

"The future and the past. You see, the Gift of Prophecy and Gift of Discernment can work together in that fashion. Call it an… empathetic prophecy." Oracle said, giggling. She then added, "however, before you're able to perform that feat, you'll need to connect with the Crystal Ball." Oracle declared.

Brittni switched glances between Oracle and the Crystal Ball. Brittni walked over to the Crystal Ball and gazed at it, admirably. Slowly, she reached her hand until it made contact with the Crystal. Once it did, Brittni felt a surge of energy beginning to flow through her. Brittni started gasping erratically, unfamiliar with the energy she was feeling. Oracle's voice became more pronounced.

"Do not fear the Spirit! It is granting you the power." Oracle commanded. Brittni looked back at Oracle and nodded. Brittni then willfully allowed the 'Spirit' in. The Spirit began feeling more soothing. After a few moments, the Spirit had fully interwoven within Brittni's body. She began breathing hard.

"How do you feel, daughter?" Oracle inquired. Brittni looked back.

"I… I actually feel… peaceful." Brittni said, chuckling a bit. Oracle grinned.

"That is good. I understand that the Spirit can feel… overwhelming, but you seem to have-" Oracle began before Brittni started screaming. Oracle gasped and ran over to her.

"Brittni? Brittni! What is it?! What do you see?!" Oracle demanded. Brittni's iris' and pupils had turned white. After a few moments, Brittni went silent and fell backwards. Oracle caught her in her arms. Brittni coughed a few times and opened her eyes. They had turned back to normal.

"Brittni…?" Oracle inquired.

"I… I saw… Elberon. I need to get there. Now!"

_Meanwhile, back with Glimmer and Night Moon…_

Glimmer had gazed at Void's face. She had the same skin tone, the same facial features. Everything down to the sparkles in her pink hair with purple highlights that Queen Angella had. Glimmer was unsure of what to think. The similarities between Void and Angella were irrefutable. Still, Glimmer was cautious about this meeting.

"How do I know that you are who say you are?!" Glimmer demanded. Void smirked.

"Well, for starters, my real name obviously isn't Void. I'm Angella's sister, Starr. By any chance does the name ring a bell?" Void inquired. Glimmer thought hard for a moment. Angella never spoke of a sister, but Glimmer did remember a time when she was staying in Mystacor where she saw a certain painting of a 'renegade sorceress' named Starr. Nobody in Mystacor would speak of her. Glimmer continued to stare suspiciously at Void.

"Would you like me to fire energy blasts from my hand like your mother? Or perhaps teleport like you do? Sad to say, your mother severed me from my connection to the Moonstone…" Void began while she looked away. She turned to Glimmer again and continued, "listen, I know that this is a lot to take in. Right now, you don't have to believe me. What's important right now is that I take you to our hideout, and we get settled." Void said holding out her free hand. Glimmer switched glances between Void's hand and her face then sighed and shook her hand. Void smiled and put her mask back on.

Void had lead Glimmer, her followers, and the skiff that they stole, to Void's hideout. Her hideout was an old barn that lead to an underground bastion. At first glance, Glimmer and her followers were unimpressed.

"A barn? Seriously?" Glimmer inquired, impatiently. Void smirked.

"Looks can be deceiving, dear." Void said as she walked up to the barn and opened the door. Under a pile of hay was a button that Void pushed. When the button activated, an elevator appeared in the middle of the floor. Glimmer and her followers stared in awe at the arrival of the elevator. Void marched in, followed by Glimmer.

"I'll have your people take the next elevator." Void said as she activated the elevator, sending them underground. When they arrived, Glimmer was in utter amazement at what she was looking at. It was not a huge base, but it had all the amenities. In front of the aunt and niece was a lobby that was filled with desks and computers. At the far end were shelves filled with armor and weapons; laser rifles, energy batons, swords, bows. To the left were a couple of doors that lead to a barracks and bathroom. To the right was a wide open kitchen and dining area. Void took a few steps in and welcomed Glimmer. Glimmer followed her, admiring the landscape.

"This is a bunker that I began building a long while ago, partnering with a few members of the Makers Guild. I had to get a lot of supplies from raiding Horde caravans, but you do what you gotta do." Void declared. Void then turned to Glimmer.

"This is your home as much as it is mine." Void assured. For the first time in a long while, Glimmer felt at home. She smiled at Void.

"Thank you… Aunt Starr." Glimmer said gratefully.

"Ah, please. Call me Void. But enough about that…" Void said looking Glimmer up and down, "we need to get you out of those rags. I have just the clothes for you." Void said taking Glimmer's hand and leading her to a room adjacent to the barracks. It was Void's personal space. Void opened up a walk in closet to reveal a generous assortment of clothing and armor. Glimmer gazed wide-eyed at the clothes. Although she had become more corrupted from the Black Garnet, she still had a fashion sense. Glimmer went into the walk-in closet and closed the door, spending almost an hour in there. When she walked out, Void applauded her wardrobe change.

Glimmer had adorned herself with black leggings, black fingerless gloves, dark purple boots, and a dark purple, sleeveless top. Armoring her were a pair of pauldrons, plate armor that covered her upper legs, and a chest plate with the Night Moon symbol emblazoned in front. The symbol was a large black circle with a dark purple crescent moon. Void began slowly clapping. Glimmer grinned at her with narrowed eyes and asked,

"So… when do we invade Elberon?"


	27. Chapter 27: Return to Elberon

Chapter 27: Return to Elberon

"Hi, Brett!" Entrapta, the quirky, young scientist greeted. Brett simply widened his eyes at her in unbelief. His mouth was agape as well. That is until Entrapta reached out and pushed his chin up, closing his mouth. She then added, "you shouldn't keep your mouth open in these vents. With all the asbestos flowing through this place it's a miracle we don't both have lung cancer!" Entrapta said, giggling. Brett shook his head, impatiently, and kept his energy baton ignited.

"Entrapta! What are you doing here?! Didn't you take off with your precious little princess friends?" Brett demanded. Entrapta was sort of taken aback by Brett's demeanor, as he had always been soft spoken to that point.

"Oh! Well, I was waiting for my friends. They had trouble finding me before.

I figured I'd make it easier and stay put right here." Entrapta declared, gleefully. Brett narrowed his eyes at her.

"I don't think you fully realize the situation you're in." Brett said, calmly. Entrapta giggled.

"Of course I do! They'll find me eventually. But they can take their time. I've been having so much fun! Oh, the Fright Zone has technology that I've never seen before! And all the components and power sources I need are seemingly everywhere for the taking!" Entrapta said, letting out a shrill laugh. Brett grunted.

"You mean like my voltage capacitor that you stole?!" Brett demanded, raising his head up and hitting his head at the top part of the vent, "ow!" He then let out a low growl, which agitated Entrapta a bit. Brett then bellowed out, "do you even realize what you've done?! Because of you and those princesses, we lost a lot of-" Brett started before waving his arms in anger, hitting the sides of the vent. "Ow!" Entrapta gazed at Brett, intently.

"Oh, maybe we should continue this conversation outside the vent?" Entrapta suggested. Brett let out a growl that slowly turned into a sigh as he rubbed his hands.

"Yeah, I think that'd be-" Brett started before he heard a delightful exclamation from Entrapta. She used her hair to grab a hold of Brett's energy baton.

"What's this?!" Entrapta asked as she admired the baton. Brett reached for it, but his elbow was caught on a corner of the vent, as they were both still in awkward positions.

"Give that back!" Brett yelled.

"Fascinating… if I'm guessing right, this is an energy baton that can function as both a deadly and incapacitating weapon." Entrapta said, analytically.

"Entrapta!" Brett yelled as he adjusted his arm so his elbow could move. As he grabbed the baton, Entrapta put up a minor resistance, but Brett took it as a major resistance and pulled it a little too spasmodically. In pulling it, he accidentally activated the trigger sending a surge of electricity through Entrapta. She began screaming until Brett released the button. She then groaned and her head fell onto Brett's hands. He let out a loud gasp, wondering if he had killed her.

"Entrapta! Entrapta, are you okay?!" Brett screamed. He felt for a pulse on the neck, so she was still alive, just incapacitated. He breathed a sigh of relief, then began wondering what he would do. Of course, she was a princess, and he was angry about the princess attack. Yet, at the same time, just from talking to her and observing her demeanor, Entrapta seemed more of a follower and yes-person.

"_She's just easy to persuade…" _Brett thought to himself, _"I don't think she comprehends the full extent of what she did…"_ Regardless of how he felt, Brett knew that Entrapta still had to answer for the princess attack on the Fright Zone. He could convince Catra that she's worth being interrogated, rather than executed. With this thought in mind, Brett began dragging Entrapta out of the vent that lead to his room. Once inside, Brett placed Entrapta on Brittni's bed and sat across from her on his own bed.

As he sat, he took a good look at Entrapta. Back at Princess Prom, he had developed an admiration for her just from noticing her clothes, and talking with her about technological marvels. Now that Brett was observing under more peaceful circumstances, he was able to get a more clear view of Entrapta. There was something about the simplicity of her looks that really made Brett infatuated with her. Her crimson red eyes, her perfectly proportional, yet makeup free face. And then there was her hair; her long, gorgeous purple hair. Not only was purple Brett's favorite color, but the fact that there was practicality with her prehensile hair completely built upon Brett's infatuation.

"Ugh, I'm being a total creeper right now…" Brett muttered, scolding himself, "she's a princess, and I'm… oh my gosh. Am I going crazy or am I falling for this chick…?" Brett then lightly groaned then put his hands to his head.

"Oh, get it together, Brett. She's a source of information against the Rebellion. Nothing more…" Brett muttered to himself again. Despite feeling like a creeper, he couldn't help but gaze upon Entrapta. She had shifted from being knocked out to actually falling asleep. She even began to snore a bit! Brett let out a sigh.

"Welp, all there is to do is wait for her to wake up…"

_Meanwhile, back at Void's hideout… _

The next day after Night Moon sheltered Glimmer and her followers, Void knocked on the door to the room that Glimmer was staying in. Glimmer granted access for Void to come in. When Void walked in, she leaned against a dresser with her arms folded. Glimmer was sitting on the bed sharpening a dagger.

"Sleep well?" Void inquired.

"I got enough sleep, if that's what you're asking. If you're wondering if it was peaceful, then no. It won't be that way until I slaughter every single last Horde soldier." Glimmer bellowed as she put a particularly deep stroke on the dagger against the whetstone she was holding. Void smirked upon seeing Glimmer's determination. She then walked over to Glimmer and admired her sharpening skills.

"I see you've found my iridium daggers. Please, take them. They'll be instrumental in our first move against the Horde." Void offered. Glimmer took one last stroke with the dagger against the whetstone she was holding then casually blew the metal debris of the dagger. She then stood up and sheathed the purple tinted blade at her hip.

"Thank you. Now, when do attack Elberon?" Glimmer inquired, impatiently. Void put her hand on Glimmer's shoulder.

"Patience, my dear niece. Before we do anything, we're going to need a plan. Now, I saw you use some sort of telekinesis… when I was connected to the Moonstone, I never had any kind of ability like that. Where did you get that power from?" Void inquired. Glimmer looked away, almost ashamed.

"When I was in the Fright Zone, I was tortured by some kind of energy coming from a runestone called the Black Garnet…" Glimmer said, dismally. She then added, "while the energy was surging through me, I kind of… started absorbing it or something." Glimmer muttered angrily. She then unsheathed the dagger and turned towards the bed, plunging the dagger into it. Glimmer began growling as she finally admitted to herself that she didn't have her power of the Moonstone. Void put her finger to her mouth and bit it, deep in thought.

"I need to show you something, Glimmer. Follow me." Void bade her. Void started walking out of the room with Glimmer in pursuit. Void lead Glimmer to a hallway that seemingly lead to a dead end. Glimmer eyed Void suspiciously as her Aunt walked towards the wall at the dead end and pushed her hand against it. Once Void did that, fog began emitting from the bottom and top of the wall, and the wall was lowered into the ground. After the fog dissipated. Glimmer was astonished at what was before her. It was…

… A Moonstone.

At least it was shaped like one. This Moonstone, instead of being held by some invisible force was held up with some kind of metal rack.

"B...But how did you get this?" Glimmer inquired in complete shock. Void smirked as she walked over to the stone and turned to Glimmer.

"I didn't *get* this. I forged it." Void corrected. Glimmer was visibly confused, and Void decided to clarify with a question:

"Tell me something, Glimmer. Do you know what a runestone is?" Void inquired. Glimmer was taken aback by the question.

"I… I honestly never thought about it." Glimmer admitted, pondering the question, "I mean, they're magical stones that give us our powers, right?" Glimmer guessed. After a few moments, Glimmer simply allowed Void to explain.

"True to an extent. A runestone is simply a repository for magic. Every single runestone across Etheria is simply a rock that serves as a conduit of magic for those that make a connection with it. I have been working on this Moonstone for years. I've gathered ingredients and followed a strict set of cultivation to imbue it with the magic of the moon. Sadly, it hasn't been enough. In order to give this Moonstone its full function of magic, we're going to need… certain components from the most magical location in all of Etheria…" Void forboded. Glimmer knew exactly what Void was talking about.

"Mystacor…" Glimmer said, shuddering. Void let her face curve into an evil grin.

"Exactly…" Void confirmed. Void's tone became more softened when she added the next line, "but, that's a concern for the future. For right now, this Moonstone has enough magic for us to perform one daring strike against Elberon. It can teleport us right within the city walls." Void explained. Glimmer copied Void's evil smile.

"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's get the troops prepared!" Glimmer declared. Void nodded and lead Glimmer to the rest of Night Moon. As they walked, Glimmer's followers were donning their new equipment from Night Moon. Glimmer was wowed by the new gear that her followers were being equipped with. Their armor was a combination of Horde and Rebellion armor. The chestplate was Horde armor that had the Night Moon crest painted over it. The pauldrons were that of a Bright Moon soldier. The rest of the uniform had an amalgamation of different armor parts from bots, tanks, and other metal parts that seemed to be welded together. Void noticed Glimmer's reaction to the troops armor.

"Admittedly our armor and weapons are somewhat makeshift. After all, we're guerilla fighters. We attack a Horde outpost, loot the place, and leave before they have a chance to retaliate." Void said, admittedly. But Glimmer didn't mind the improvisation that Night Moon had been performing. With Glimmer and her followers supplementing Night Moon, they all finally had a big enough army to start conquering and holding locations. Once Void and Glimmer reached the end of the bunker, Glimmer took one last look around. At this point, she had one thought. One goal. One purpose.

Revenge.

_Meanwhile, back at the Fright Zone… _

Brett was sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall. He was still attempting to figure out exactly what to do with Entrapta. On the one hand, she was a princess insurgent that was in league with the enemy. On the other hand, she seemed almost… oblivious to the plight of the Rebellion.

"_Maybe…" _Brett began thinking to himself, _"Maybe she could be convinced to join the Horde?" _Brett wondered. He then scoffed out loud and began arguing with himself, _"oh, c'mon Brett. Are you really falling for this princess? You've met her, like three times. One of those times… she caused a lot of Horde deaths…"_ Brett sighed aloud. All this thinking was annoying him. He jumped off his bed and headed for the door. As he did, he heard Entrapta start to stir in Brittni's bed.

"Why, yes… *snore*... Bow, I would like some tiny food…" Entrapta muttered in her sleep. Brett was not about to miss this. He turned towards her and waited for more of her dream talk.

"Please hand me the… *snore* ⅜ socket… need to remove these… spark plugs…" Entrapta continued muttering. Brett cocked an eyebrow.

"She uses ⅜? Huh, the typical socket is usually ⅝…" Brett muttered.

"Oh… oh, thank you Brett. You're the best friend I've ever had." Entrapta muttered and smiled amidst her deep sleep. Brett's eyes narrowed at Entrapta as her dream talk suddenly piqued his interest. Entrapta then began moving her arms in a hug-like position and began giggling.

"Oh… *snore* you want to do THAT?!" Entrapta yelled at the last syllable. Brett moved closer in anticipation. Entrapta then added, "I've never kissed anyone before… but if you insist!"

Brett's eyes widened longer than a giraffe's neck and his cheeks became redder than Kushina Uzamaki's hair. He had never felt so embarrassed by something that wasn't even being displayed publicly. Suddenly, dream-mode Entrapta began shaking in bed like a hypnic jerk on steroids.

"No. NO! Brett! Look out for *snore* the… teddy bear monster…!" Entrapta yelled in her sleep. Brett narrowed his former widened eyes in total confusion. Entrapta then added, "LOOK OUT!" As Entrapta spoke that last statement, both pigtails of her hair thrusted at Brett and began wrapping around him, lifting him into the air.

"Whoa! What the?! Entrapta!" Brett began protesting. Suddenly he started hearing a beeping. It was the emergency tracking signal that all Horde officers received, and Entrapta accidentally activated it. Brett gasped upon hearing it, "oh, no, no no!" Brett hollered as he struggled to get free from Entrapta's hair. He knew that soon enough, somebody was going to come find him… and Entrapta. He thought of something, anything that would get her to loosen up. Nothing was coming to mind. His arms were completely bound under the hair, and he was unable to reach for a weapon. A minute went by and Entrapta kept her hold on Brett, still sputtering about how the 'Teddy Bear was going to get her.'

Soon enough, however, Brett heard someone enter his quarters.

"Oh, no. Oh, no, oh, no! Entrapta!" Brett yelled. As he said that, he heard a familiar voice and shuddered upon hearing it. All of a sudden, his bedroom door flung open, and there stood someone that made Brett scream…

_Meanwhile, back at Seer Sanctuary in Oracle's residence…_

Brittni was rapidly panting from what she had seen. Oracle was trying to calm her down by strongly embracing her and chanting another spell.

"uoy otnu eb ecaeP!" Oracle said in reverse. Upon finishing her words, Brittni's breathing stabilized and she calmed down. Oracle hugged her close and added, "I'm sorry, Brittni, I should have warned you that the first time you experience a prophecy… it takes a toll on your body. Are you alright?" Oracle inquired. Brittni blinked a few times.

"Yeah… yeah I'm fine." Brittni said, coughing a couple times, "but I saw Elberon! The Horde… it was getting slaughtered! I need to get there now." Brittni exasperated. She picked herself up out of Oracle's embrace and started walking out of the Seer Sanctuary. As Brittni was making her way out, Oracle put her hand on Brittni's shoulder.

"Let me come with you." Oracle suggested. Brittni shook her head.

"No, Mom, what I saw… I can't let you get hurt." Brittni chided. Oracle cocked her eyebrow.

"Now wait a minute. I'm the mom here, I'm the one that's supposed to say that!" Oracle protested. Brittni narrowed her eyes at Oracle.

"Mom, I'm the one that's had extensive medical and combat training from the most powerful military organization on this planet. I can handle myself." Brittni assured. Oracle's golden yellow eyes gazed at Brittni with desperation. Oracle knew that Brittni was right. Oracle looked away for a moment, sighed, then turned back to Brittni and smiled.

"Okay… okay, you're right. But going in, I want to be able to keep in contact with you." Oracle said. She wriggled her free hand rhythmically for a moment, and out of thin air, puffed a necklace into Oracle's hand. She then handed it to Brittni. Brittni took the necklace and eyed it, analytically.

"This is apart of the Crystal Ball." Brittni gasped. Oracle nodded her head.

"If you're going in, I want you to know what you're getting into. This necklace will allow me to communicate with you." Oracle explained. Brittni nodded and put the necklace around her neck. Brittni started for the door again then stopped. She looked back at Oracle again then turned her whole body and wrapped it around Oracle in a tight hug.

"I'll be back. I promise!" Brittni said, tears streaming out of her eyes. Oracle returned the hug and kissed Brittni on the top of her head.

"I know you will. I've seen it." Oracle said, reassuringly. The two then broke away from the hug and Oracle added, "alright, Elberon needs you. Get going!" Oracle said. Brittni nodded and ran out of the Seer Sanctuary and began running back to Elberon. The trip was much faster this time, as she was able to successfully remember all the foliage she observed on the trip to Oracle's home.

"_Red fern, take a left. Overthrown tree, on the right path. Creekbed flowing through a tiny crack in the large boulder with moss pointed towards civilization? Almost there."_ Brittni thought to herself. Soon enough, she made it to Elberon…

...But it was too late…

_A couple hours earlier… _

"Are you ready?" Void inquired of Glimmer. Glimmer gave Void a look of determination and nodded. Void then said, "okay, hold my hand and put your other hand on the Moonstone." Void explained. Glimmer positioned herself to the right of the Moonstone while Void was on the left. Void put her hand on the Moonstone and reached out for Glimmer's hand. Glimmer took a deep breath and put her hand in Void's, then put her free hand on the Moonstone. Not soon after, the two family members felt a warping sensation as though their bodies had evaporated into nothing. But a split second later, they found themselves within the gates of Elberon.

The two looked around. Glimmer recognized this as the bottom level. They were near the guard barracks. However, the guard barracks was also near the marketplace. As such, Glimmer and Void saw a small group of Horde soldiers as well as workers grouped around, gazing at the two Night Moon leaders in shock and awe. For a moment, Glimmer did not know exactly what to do. But Void set into action rather quickly.

"Don't just stand there!" Void yelled as she ran at the closest Horde soldier to her and plunged her sword clean into the unarmored part of his neck. He made a gurgling choking noise as she pulled the sword out and kicked him away. Two more ran at Void with their energy batons ready to fire. One managed to hit her with an energy blast from a distance, but her chestplate managed to stop the laser from piercing. She did stumble backwards a bit, however. The one that fired the shot ran closer to her with the intent of getting a clearer shot at her unarmored parts. However, he was easily dispatched when Void leaned to the side and stuck her sword into the side of his chest plate where there was an unarmored opening. She then grabbed his arm and moved him to the front of her, to use him as cover as the other soldier started firing his baton. As he fired, he only hit his partner. While that soldier was attempting to hit Void, he started feeling a dark purple aura surrounding him.

"Wha- Huh?! Ahh!" The soldier screamed as Glimmer used her power to stop him in place, then hurled him backwards behind her. His body was thrown against a couple other soldiers that were coming at Glimmer, knocking them down. The Horde workers that were around were stunned from the shock of Void and Glimmer's dramatic appearance. Void quickly took notice of them and ran to the closest one to her and sank her sword into his chest and kicked him onto the street. For a moment, Glimmer was taken aback. Although Glimmer was out for blood against all the Horde soldiers, she was dismayed from seeing Void kill a civilian. The other workers screamed as they started running away.

"Stop them!" Void ordered. Glimmer turned towards them and placed them all in her dark purple aura. They all stopped dead in their tracks, completely unable to move. Their screams could still be heard, however.

"Good! Now finish them!" Void ordered.

For a few moments that felt like an eternity, Glimmer shuddered. Although these were people from the Horde, they weren't armed combatants. The aura began shrinking around them for a moment, to the chagrin of Void.

"What are you doing?! Glimmer! These are the people that have slaughtered and enslaved your people! They're just as bad as Hordak himself. Kill them! Before they warn the rest of the guard!" Void shouted. Glimmer thought about Hordak for a few moments then began seeing flashbacks of the Horde marching in to different Rebel villages. The anger began seething within her and she started letting the rage take over. Glimmer started growling and the aura surrounding the people started widening. One by one, Glimmer forced the aura to surround their necks, strangling them to death. Most of the group died quickly, but there was one woman that somehow managed to reach her hand out towards Glimmer.

"P...Please… I have… a fam..il...y…" The woman managed to choke out. For a brief moment, Glimmer felt a bit of somber pity. However, when she heard family, Glimmer became even more enraged.

"I had a family, too. And you people destroyed it." Glimmer sneered. And with that, Glimmer forced the aura to wrap even tighter, successfully choking the woman to death. The aura then began being absorbed back into Glimmer and the civilian corpses collapsed to the ground. Glimmer began breathing hard, and her sclera started turning black. Void walked up to her.

"You did the right thing. Now, let's get that gate open." Void said. Glimmer nodded, and the two made their way towards the gate.

The Night Moon army had already gotten into position in the forested area near one of the gates of Elberon. Thanks to the lax attitude of Force Captain Viktor, there were no patrols near the vicinity of the gate, so all they had to do was await for Void and Glimmer's signal. Once the Aunt and Niece duo made it to the gate, Void started pulling the chain to raise the portcullis, and Glimmer used her power to lift a Horde soldier's body in the air. The dark purple aura glowed radiantly, and the Night Moon army knew it was time.

The street that the Night Moon army was on was surrounded by buildings. On one side, there were buildings adjacent to the wall, and on the other, buildings towered over the street. Both potential covering points for each faction. Nevertheless, Glimmer's followers and the Night Moon army were in a bloodthirsty vengeance, and charged right down the street into the heart of the Horde soldiers.

Soon enough, the inhabitants of Elberon began hearing a distant, vocal clamor. All the workers and soldiers on duty stopped their work and looked towards the noise. Slowly, the clamor evolved into a multitude of roars. No amount of training could have prepared the Horde soldiers for the fear they felt as they saw the wave of the Night Moon army coming at them. With Void and Glimmer at the helm, and over the thunderous cries of the invading soldiers, the Horde soldiers could hear the cry of Void.

"Death to the Horde! Charge, Night Moon!" Void cried amidst uproar of her soldiers. The Horde soldiers readied their weapons.

Some of the soldiers were ordering the civilians to evacuate while the rest readied themselves at the corner of buildings and behind market kiosks. On the wall, there was a mounted turret that was ready to spray a hail of lasers at any enemy that dared stay within the street. Soon enough, the Night Moon army were in the crosshairs of the Horde soldiers, and they began to open fire. A hail of lasers began being fired by both sides as they both began taking casualties. The Horde was surprised by this attack, however, and did not have the proper mobilization. Slowly, the Night Moon army began pushing towards them. Through the cover of lasers, many Night Moon ninjas would run from building corner to building corner, inching ever closer. Soon enough, the first Night Moon ninja peered out from a corner and hopped over a makeshift barricade that a couple Horde soldiers were using as cover and decapitated them both in one swipe of his sword. This similar scenario continued as the ninjas moved closer and closer using their comrade's laser fire and the corner of buildings as cover. Around a dozen Horde soldiers fell by this tactic, but it did not last long.

The turret that was mounted on the wall began opening fire at the street. The lasers started breaking apart the cobblestone road as the barrage of lasers inched ever closer to the ninjas. As much as they tried to evade the lasers, many Night Moon ninjas began getting cut down, with the turret's lasers piercing their armor. Glimmer took notice of this and quickly joined the fray. Because of the mass of the turret, it would take her time to wrap her aura around it. The laser armed soldiers were out of range, and the rest of the ninjas were pinned down. Void ordered the laser armed soldiers to move up and take cover behind anything they could and lay down suppressing fire at the turret. The soldiers obeyed and began running towards any cover they could find in order to get a clear shot at the turret. The turret began firing again, slaughtering a good amount of the laser armed soldiers. While the turret was distracted, however. Void and Glimmer were making their way into a building close to the wall. At the top floor, they found a civilian cowering the corner.

Unlike last time where Glimmer felt a sympathetic restraint against attacking civilians, this notion she was about to perform contained no mercy. The aura that Glimmer controlled began wrapping around the civilian.

"No! Please, let me go!" He begged. Glimmer simply smirked.

"Oh, I'll let you go." Glimmer said coldly as she aura-forced him through a window.

Still holding him with the aura, she found a clear shot at the turret that was still distracted with keeping the Night Moon army pinned down. Using the civilian, she used her force aura to throw him at the Horde soldier manning the turret. The civilian smacked into the soldier, knocking the both of them out. Void, with her agility, hopped onto the window sill, then jumped onto the wall, grasping the edge, then gracefully pulled herself atop it.

She then ran over to the turret and began operating it. She aimed it away from her army that was coming from the East, and aimed it towards the West where more Horde soldiers were coming to reinforce the guards that had been killed. Upon seeing the second wave of Horde soldiers, Void shifted the turret towards them and began raining a hail of lasers at them. The lasers tore through the soldiers like a blowtorch through paper. Some of the soldiers wised up and took cover behind the buildings, but it was too late for them to mobilize. The ninjas made their way to the buildings and began slaughtering the guards as they took their cover.

A rather thunderous cheer rang across the lower level of the town from the Night Moon army. Glimmer had jumped to the wall. Void helped her up, since Glimmer was not used to not being able to teleport.

"Thanks… I miss teleporting." Glimmer huffed as Void helped her up.

"Glimmer, once we reforge the Moonstone to full functionality, you will have power you could only dream of." Void said, excitedly. Her voice then became more serious as she added, "okay, this operation is going better than planned. I didn't realize that the Horde had such lax security… but never mind that. We need to find the leader of this town and kill him. Once he's dead, the rest of their forces will be thrown into disarray and they'll be forced to retreat."

"What're we waiting for?" Glimmer demanded, grinning devilishly.

_Meanwhile, an hour or so after Night Moon began their assault, Adora, Bow, and Arya made their way to Elberon…_

Adora, Bow, and General Arya had heard from credited sources that Glimmer's stolen skiff had landed near Elberon. Naturally, the Rebel group assumed that she wanted to retake Elberon, and so, made their way there. About a half mile away, the group noticed smoke rising in the distance.

"Smoke? It can't be… did Glimmer really attack Elberon? And by herself?!" Adora exasperated. Bow nodded, somberly.

"She was really bitter after the Horde took Elberon. She was hellbent on taking it back, like she was obsessed with it… but going alone…?" Bow muttered.

"Well, we won't know what happened to her until we get there. Let's move out!" Arya ordered. Adora and Bow nodded and began picking up the pace heading to Elberon. The closer they got to the city, the more the black smoke pervaded the air. Soon, the group began seeing fires on different buildings. The group stared in horror as they moved closer.

"No way… Did Glimmer do this?" Bow inquired in disbelief. Soon enough the group made it to the gate. At the exact same time that the Rebel group arrived, Adora heard an incredibly familiar voice. Adora shuddered upon hearing the voice, because she soon realized it was her old friend. Slowly, Adora turned towards the voice. Out of the woods came a white colored, armor clad, combat medic. Brittni.

"...A...Adora?"


	28. Chapter 28:With Us or Against Us

Chapter 28: With Us or Against Us

"B...Brittni?" Adora inquired, in complete disbelief of seeing her former friend. Brittni gazed at Adora with a wide mixture of emotions. Shock, surprise, bitterness, anger. Adora's group was posted near the gate of Elberon while Brittni stood a few yards away near the forested area. At this point, the state of the relationship between Brittni and Adora was ambiguous, at best. While both of the former comrades were questioning the moral implications of the Horde, Adora was the one that ultimately turned her back on it. And with Adora turning her back on the Horde, Brittni seemed to take it rather personally.

A burst of flashbacks began bombarding Brittni's mind. She was thinking back to when Adora first grabbed the sword in the Whispering Woods. When Brittni had found out that Adora had been a princess the whole time, it truly shocked her. But that wasn't the event where Brittni's bitterness began. No, that enmity started when Adora left with Bow and Glimmer and joined the Rebellion

…and left Brittni alone in the forest...

The two gazed at each other for a little while before speaking A copious amount of unspoken communication was established between the two during this silence. While Brittni was eyeing Adora with contempt and bitterness, Adora gazed back with penitence and sensitivity. Arya switched glances between the two and finally spoke up.

"So… you two know each other?" Arya inquired. Brittni scoffed.

"I thought I knew her…" Brittni muttered, bitterly. Adora's eyebrows were curved into a frown. When all was said and done, just as Adora did not want to leave Catra, she also did not want to leave Brittni.

"Brittni… I…" Adora began, taking a few steps towards Brittni. Brittni, in response, squared her body up, ready to fight. Adora put her hands up to chin length, palms towards Brittni to demonstrate her armistice, then continued, "Brittni, I can only imagine what you think of me, but please, let's talk." Adora said, almost begging. Brittni's eyes curved into a deep glare.

"Talk?" Brittni demanded, chuckling out of irritation, "after all this time, you want to talk? Okay, fine. What do you want to talk about? How you turned your back on the Horde and all of your friends? How you left me to die from those wasps?! How…" Brittni began tearing up at this point. Brittni choked out in complete anger. "How could you do this to us… to me?!" Brittni demanded. Tears began streaming out of Adora's eyes and she stopped her pace towards Brittni.

"Brittni… I'm… I'm sorry. I really am sorry. Agh… this is the third time I've had to do this. I never meant to just leave you or the Horde. Just… let me explain. We actually went back for you. When you were stung by those wasps, we were about to go back and treat you, but the hillside broke beneath our feet and we fell into a chasm. That spider was coming after us and we ran into some kind of ancient ruin. After we got out, I swear that I made it our first priority to go find you… but when we did, you were already gone. I…" Adora began sobbing, "I thought you died, Brittni. I thought some kind of monster in the Whispering Woods took you and… and… Oh, Brittni, I mean it with all my heart. I'm sorry!" Adora fell to her knees and began sobbing into her hand.

Brittni was taken aback by this action. She supposed that she never did actually hear Adora's side of the story. This war and the two factions that had been fighting each other… Brittni was still unsure of who was right and who was wrong. At this point, she realized that both factions had done wrong to one another, but there was no real way to tell who was right all along. Although, in the wide spectrum of everything, the only true enemy was Horde Prime and his empire.

Regardless, Brittni had grown up with Adora and observed everything there was to know about her. Brittni could tell by the frequency in Adora's voice that she was sincere in her apology. Although Brittni still felt a bit of resentment from Adora leaving the Horde without much reservation, she knew that there was a more important purpose for going to Elberon. Brittni sighed, walked over to Adora, then knelt down next to her. Brittni put her hand to Adora's chin and lifted her head up. Brittni was able to get a full analysis of Adora's face. Adora's eyes had become reddened from crying, her cheeks were puffy, and her lips were quivering erratically.

Medicinewise, there was a science to understanding fake crying versus genuine crying. When sadness is registered in the cerebrum, the endocrine system is then stimulated to release hormones to the ocular area thus causing tears to flow. But that's not all, apart of these actions lead to the stimulation of the cheeks and lips. You cannot fake bodily functions like that. Thus, Brittni was able to know that Adora was sincere in her apology.

"I accept your apology…" Brittni began, then looked away for a few moments. When Brittni looked back she added, "I still don't know how I feel about us, but for now, let's just call a truce." Brittni suggested. Adora sniffled and nodded her head. Brittni stood up and helped pick Adora up. Arya snapped the two former comrades back to reality.

"I don't mean to interrupt this… tense reunion, but there's a reason we came here. Are we going in or not?" Arya demanded. Brittni eyed Arya suspiciously.

"Judging from your armor, I'd say you're a high ranking officer of the Rebellion?" Brittni surmised. Arya simply hmphed. Bow cut in.

"She's right, Adora, we need to get into Elberon." Bow advised. Adora turned towards Brittni.

"Brittni, I understand that we're not on the same side anymore, but I still consider you my friend." Adora claimed while putting her hand on Brittni's shoulder. Brittni switched glances between Adora's hand and her face while eyeing Adora with suspicion. Adora then continued, "please, come with us. We're just trying to find Glimmer."

The moment that Adora touched Brittni, a sudden burst of information began flooding Brittni's mind. It was almost a continuation of her vision from when she touched the Crystal Ball. Brittni began panting hard, as though she were hyperventilating. Adora put her other hand on Brittni's other shoulder.

"Brittni? Brittni! What's happening? What's going on?!" Adora demanded. After a few moments, Brittni's breathing returned to normal.

"We need to get in there. Now!"

_Meanwhile, back in the Fright Zone… _

Brett was still suspended in the air from Entrapta's hair as the large silhouette came into view. Brett let out a loud scream as the silhouette began moving towards him. When the silhouette entered into the room and was revealed by the light, Brett gasped.

Who could it have been? Octavia? Catra? Hordak himself?!

No.

It was Scorpia.

"Scorpia?!" Brett inquired. Scorpia put her claws up to her mouth and let out a loud gasp.

"Brett! Are you okay? Oh, gosh, let me get you out of there!" Scorpia said as she moved her claws close to Entrapta's hair.

"Be careful!" Brett shouted. Scorpia stayed her claws and gazed at Brett, blinking her eyes in surprise. Brett let out a sigh, "I'm about ninety nine percent sure that her hair has nerves." Scorpia continued to stare blankly at Brett which made him sigh.

"That means that she can feel you touching her hair." Brett explained. Scorpia switched glances between the hair and Brett.

"But that means you're one percent unsure!" Scorpia deduced. Brett growled.

"Scorpia…!" Brett said, condemningly. At his annoyance, Scorpia retracted her claws.

"Okay, well what do you want me to do?" Scorpia inquired, folding her arms. Brett thought for a few more moments. He remembered how well Entrapta reacted to technology, and a light bulb went off in his head.

"Hey, Entrapta! Take a look at the bot five feet in front of you! It's programmed to butter your toast!" Brett yelled. With that, Entrapta released Brett who fell to the floor with an 'Oof!' Entrapta then got off the bed and slept walked over to the end of Brett's bed and used her hair to pick up the robot that he invented.

"Well… *snore* hello, little guy. *snore* You think you could butter… *snore* tiny bread?" Entrapta sleepily inquired.

"I got her!" Scorpia yelled as she ran at Entrapta and tackled her. Entrapta let out an 'Oof!' as she was tackled by Scorpia, and at that point, Entrapta woke up screaming.

"Scorpia! You didn't have to tackle her!" Brett scolded. Scorpia lifted herself off Entrapta, keeping her lower body on top, and turned to Brett.

"Oh, sorry, Brett. I just thought, y'know, Rebel princess. She needed to be restrained. Y'know." Scorpia said, scratching the back of her neck. Entrapta gazed admirably at Scorpia's claws.

"Oh, wow… I've never seen a hybrid of a humanoid and a Hottentotta tamulus." Entrapta indicated as she wrapped one of her pigtails around one of Scorpia's claws. Scorpia turned to Entrapta.

"Hotten… Hottentotta- Wait! Brittni called me that one time! You're not her sister are you?" Scorpia inquired. Brett smacked his forehead and walked over to Scorpia.

"She's not my sister, Scorpia. But she is a rebel princess…" Brett said, sighing. He then added, "I'm not sure what to do with her yet." Before Scorpia could respond, another voice came from behind Brett.

"I know what to do with her."

_Meanwhile, back at the entrance to Elberon…_

The group of four walked carefully into Elberon. Bow had his arrow nocked, Arya and Adora had their swords drawn, and Brittni had a laser pistol in hand. When they entered, they were able to witness the destruction up close. Many buildings had multiple laser burns seared into the walls. There were various fires that covered the landscape. The most horrifying of all, however, were the bodies. Many corpses littered the street. The group recognized the Horde soldiers, but were unfamiliar with the ninjas and Glimmer's followers. Bow knelt down next to one of Glimmer's followers and analyzed the armor.

"This soldier has a Horde chest plate, but pauldrons from the Rebellion… Also, this symbol of the moon..." Bow declared, suspiciously. He turned back to the group and inquired, "any of you recognize these people?" The group, shook their heads in bewilderment. Arya moved to another corpse, this of a ninja.

"Huh, who knew there were others fighting the Horde." Arya muttered. Slightly under her breath she added, "good riddance…" Brittni heard that and growled.

"You got something to say, general?" Brittni demanded. Arya turned towards her and started marching towards her.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Within a few feet from Brittni, Arya turned to Adora and asked, "why are we letting her tag along with us, Adora? She's a Horde murderer!" Arya declared. Brittni glared at Arya.

"A murderer, huh? I watched one of your precious little princesses drive her hand through one of my comrades!" Brittni snapped.

"That's nothing compared to what the Horde has done to us, missy! Why I-" Arya started while pointing her finger towards Brittni. In the middle of Arya putting her finger towards Brittni, Brittni grabbed her finger. Upon grabbing the finger, Brittni let out a loud gasp. She was having another vision. Arya screamed in pain from her finger being grabbed.

"Agh! Let go, you-" Arya began before Brittni shook her head and tackled Arya to the ground. Arya yelled, "what are you doing, you little!-" Arya again attempted to speak before being interrupted by Brittni yelling.

"Sniper!" Brittni yelled as a laser shot whizzed right passed Brittni's right shoulder as she tackled Arya. In her vision, Brittni saw Arya getting shot with the laser. In addition, she was able to see the sniper's perch through the vision.

"Bow! Aim for the tower half a klick to the right!" Brittni yelled. With almost superhuman speed, Bow turned to the tower while simultaneously nocking the arrow in his bow. He then let the arrow fly. When the arrow hit the tower, a large flash illuminated the tower.

"That was a flashbang arrow! Get to cover!" Bow yelled. Brittni helped Arya stand up and lead her to a nearby outdoor market stand and ducked behind it. Meanwhile, Adora and Bow ran to the corner of a building, opposite the market stand that Brittni and Arya were behind. Because of the flashbang arrow, the sniper lost sight of the group and attempted to regain his targets by scanning the area with his scope.

"Any ideas?" Arya inquired of Brittni. Brittni inched her head up to take a peek at the perch. Her curiosity was met with a laser that flew over her head.

"Gah!" Brittni yelled as she quickly ducked her head down and rested her back against the market stall. After heavily breathing for a few moments, Brittni spoke, "okay, well, we're pinned down. That means Adora and Bow are going to have to do something" Brittni said. Luckily, the two duos were within sight of each other. Brittni peeked out to the side to get a view of the street. She calculated that if Bow were to lay down suppressing fire with his arrows, Brittni and Arya would be able to make a run to the tower, climb up it, and take out the sniper.

"Bow!" Brittni yelled out. He turned to her with a determination, "I need you to fire another flashbang at the tower, then Arya and I will run to the tower, alright?" Brittni explained. Bow gave a nod.

"Alright. Let's do this!" Bow said as he nocked another arrow. He took a step out but was immediately picked off by the sniper. Before he could fire off his arrow, the laser from the sniper nearly hit his foot. Bow grimaced and went back behind cover. Brittni, seeing this, improvised on the situation and decided to stand up and begin taking potshots at the tower. The sniper, surprised by the lasers, ducked down. During this distraction, Brittni kept firing while running with Arya towards the tower. The sniper stood up again once Brittni stopped firing and took aim. Instead of taking another shot, however, the sniper spoke.

"Hey! Are you Horde?" The sniper inquired. Brittni and Arya, with their backs against the wall of the tower looked at each other in confusion.

"Bravo Sierra One-One!" Brittni shouted. The sniper paused for a moment then responded.

"Lima Oscar Lima Three." The sniper shouted back. Arya was still confused, especially when Brittni casually walked away from the tower. She looked up and gasped.

"Viktor?!" Brittni inquired.

"Brittni? Oh, man, it IS you!" Viktor said excitedly, "hang on, lemme come down." Viktor then limped down the tower and exited it, holstering his rifle. "where have you been?!" Viktor inquired as he eyed Brittni with gratitude, then switched his gaze at Arya. He then added, "and… is this a rebel soldier?!" Brittni waved her hands up to calm Viktor down.

"Whoa, hang on Viktor. Take it easy, this is… call it a truce right now. Just, never mind it. Tell me what happened here." Brittni said. Viktor narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Arya who returned a glare. He scoffed then leaned back against the wall of the tower and let out a deep sigh. He then slumped to the floor. Brittni had noticed that Viktor had been shot in the side, as she saw a charred flesh wound. A laser had cauterized his wound, but he would still need to be treated.

"Viktor, you're hurt. Let me get you cleaned up." Brittni said as she knelt down and ripped the part of his bodysuit that had been penetrated. She then began her treatment as Viktor explained what happened.

"Heh, I can always rely on you, Nurse Brittni… thanks, ergh!" Viktor squinted as Brittni applied a solution of iodine and dressing on his wound, "egh… I never get used to that feeling. Anyway, it all started a couple hours ago…"

Viktor then went on to explain what happened when Night Moon attacked; (although he didn't know that was their name at this time.)

"...We were completely caught by surprise…" Viktor said, "over half of my soldiers, and a handful of civilians were slaughtered within the first hour. Last I checked, they were going to the different sections of the city and hunting down any remnant of the guard… and I suppose the civilians, too." Viktor muttered. Adora and Bow were encircled around Viktor listening to his story while Arya was standing a little far off keeping watch for the enemy.

"Pft…" Arya scoffed, "there's no such thing as Horde civilians."

"You know, we're not the evil murderers that the Rebellion makes us out to be!" Brittni yelled as she aggressively tightened the bandage around Viktor's waist to which he cried out in pain. Brittni then stood up and started marching towards Arya. Adora put her hand on Brittni's shoulder.

"Brittni…" Adora begged, looking deeply into Brittni's eyes as she looked back at Adora. Brittni let out a low growl and jerked her shoulder away from Adora's hand.

"Never mind, let's just figure out what these intruders are doing." Brittni said taking a few steps away and analyzing this sector of the city. Bow knelt down next to Viktor.

"Did you see a teleporting girl with them?" Bow inquired. Viktor cocked his eyebrow at him.

"Teleporting, huh? Hmmm… Sounds familiar. I think she was here around a month ago when we first took this city." Viktor pondered. Bow let Viktor think for a few moments and Viktor added, "was she around five foot four? Pink and purple, sparkly hair? Black leggings? Dark purple armor and boots? Glowing purple eyes with black scleras?" Viktor inquired. Bow narrowed his eyes at Viktor.

"Well… she has some of those features." Bow muttered. After Bow spoke that, the group heard a very familiar voice approach them from the distance.

"I'd say that was a pretty accurate description." The familiar voice said. Off in the distance coming from the North end of the street was Glimmer and a figure that the group did not recognize. Behind them were a few Night Moon soldiers. Some were ninjas, some were Glimmer's followers. The entire group gazed in complete surprise and a little fear when they witnessed Glimmer marching towards them. Adora and Bow in particular were shocked from Glimmer's wardrobe change. Bow stood up and joined Adora as they both took a few steps towards Glimmer. Around twenty feet apart, they all stopped. Glimmer was the first to speak.

"And here I thought you two had forgotten about me…"

_Meanwhile, back at Brett's quarters in the Fright Zone… _

Just as Scorpia surprised Brett, A mysterious silhouette came into the light revealing Catra.

"Catra…?" Brett muttered. He then shook his head, "okay, seriously, does everybody think they have free reign to just waltz into my quarters?" Brett complained. Catra walked right passed him, flicking his nose.

"I'm the second in command, I have free reign over everything." Catra then moved over to Scorpia and Entrapta and motioned for Scorpia to get off. Scorpia lifted herself off Entrapta while Catra flexed her claws and put a row of her claws against Entrapta's neck.

"So, you're one of the princesses that invaded the Fright Zone, huh?" Catra inquired, pushing her claws close to Entrapta's neck, her skin bulging under the claws. Entrapta blinked at Catra and then gazed at her claws.

"Oh, wow!" Entrapta squealed as she used her hair to grab Catra's hand and pull it towards her face to inspect it closer. Catra protested, but Entrapta ignored her, saying, "fascinating… you seem to be some kind of humanoid feline. Oh, wow, would you mind if I studied your anatomy? Do you have feline instincts in addition to anatomical features, or-" Entrapta began before Catra hissed angrily at her. "Oh, wow! You hiss, too?" Entrapta inquired. Catra growled.

"Answer my question! What are you still doing here in the Fright Zone?" Catra demanded. Entrapta blinked at Catra a few more times and explained that she was waiting for her friends to come back and get her. Upon viewing her time in the Fright Zone, Entrapta concluded that she had been there too long and that her friends had abandoned her. Catra exploited this sense of treachery that Entrapta felt and coaxed her into joining the Rebellion. After very few words of persuasion, Entrapta quickly agreed.

Scorpia then escorted her to a large cell where the Horde could keep an eye on her. Although Entrapta quickly agreed to join the Horde, she was still somewhat of an anomaly. As such, she was to be kept in her cell until trust was completely built. However, Catra did allow Entrapta to have free reign to research and build whatever technological marvels she wanted to her heart's desire. As Scorpia was getting Entrapta set up, Brett and Catra walked into the room to see what Entrapta had done. She had already built a four legged robot that she named Emily. To show off her invention, Entrapta had it fire one of its lasers which left a crater in one of the walls. Brett and Catra switched glances between each other and Entrapta who stood there, grinning with her eyes closed.

"The princesses have no idea what they've left behind…"

_Meanwhile, back at Elberon… _

"Gl...Glimmer?" Adora muttered as she gazed at the new Glimmer with astonishment and terror. A myriad of thoughts were going through Adora and Bow's minds. As much as they wanted to see Glimmer once again, they were abhorred by what she had done to this city and its inhabitants.

"Gosh, Adora, you look like you've seen a ghost." Glimmer said, facetiously. Bow spoke next.

"Glimmer, what are you doing here? What did you do to this city?" Bow inquired. Glimmer scoffed and looked away. She scanned the area, admiring the corpses and destruction that she and Night Moon had sewn.

"I was hoping that answer was obvious." Glimmer said, narrowing her eyes at Bow. She began pacing around, keeping an eye on the group, "With the help of Void and the Night Moon army, we retook Elberon. We did what the Rebellion couldn't do!" Glimmer growled. Bow and Adora switched glances between each other and Glimmer. Brittni stood a little off to the right, while Arya was posted near the left of the group.

"But, Glimmer… you didn't just kill soldiers, you killed civilians." Adora snapped. Glimmer stopped her pacing and took a few more steps towards Adora, around six feet away.

"Civilians? Civilians?! There's no such thing as a Horde civilian! Every single one of them has worked towards destroying us. None of them are innocent! They all _deserved_ worse than death!" Glimmer snapped back. Adora and Bow shuddered. They were at a complete loss of words from what Glimmer had been saying.

"Glimmer, how could you say that? What's happened to you?" Bow demanded.

"What's happened is that I'm finally not withheld by the Rebellion and their ridiculous rules of warfare. The Rebellion is soft. They don't have the nerve or the strength to do what needs to be done in order to save Etheria! If I was still in the Rebellion, we'd be sitting around the Bright Moon 'war room' sipping tea while my mother tells us why we shouldn't attack the Horde." Glimmer was shouting at this point. Her sclera turned black and her eyes began glowing. Adora and Bow were beginning to be terrified of her presence, as they could see the rage seething through her.

"Glimmer, please… we were doing so good with the Princess Alliance. We were starting to make a difference. Please… Please come back." Adora begged. Glimmer simply glared at Adora in reply.

"Go back? Go back?! To the woman that signed my death sentence?!" Glimmer demanded, indignantly.

"Your Highness!" Arya protested, stepping towards Glimmer. Glimmer fixed her eyes on Arya.

"General Arya. If my mother sent you, she must be really desperate." Glimmer scoffed.

"Princess Glimmer… I have a confession to make. Arya said, lowly. Glimmer cocked her eyebrow at Arya and folded her arms.

"And that is?" Glimmer demanded. Arya took a deep breath and let out a dramatic sigh.

"Your mother didn't send that message to Hordak…" Arya said. Glimmer eyed Arya suspiciously.

"Is that so? Well, who did?" Glimmer demanded. Arya looked down for a few moments, letting a few tears stream out of her eyes. The moment was so intense and silent that everyone could almost hear the teardrops as they collided with the cobblestone road. Finally after these few moments of anxiety, Arya raised her head and gazed at Glimmer, confidently.

"I did it. I sent the message. I'm sorry, Princess Glimmer…" Arya then dropped to her knees, "believe me when I say, I am so sorry…" Arya admitted, somberly.

All three factions that were present were completely silent. Brittni and Viktor were out of the loop, so they didn't exactly understand what Arya was talking about, but Brittni understood enough that Arya had betrayed her. Adora and Bow did not expected Arya to be so quick to mention her betrayal. Void and the Night Moon soldiers stood there, almost apathetic to this news. Glimmer stood there, shuddering heavily. All of that anger that Glimmer had felt towards her mother; it was actually misplaced this entire time.

One might expect at this time for a person receiving this news about themselves to begin crying. This was not one of those moments, however. Glimmer was indeed at a loss for words. But her speechlessness was not a matter of sadness,. It was a matter of fury and rage. Glimmer's cheeks began turning red, and the dark purple aura surrounding her began emanating in a rapid expansion around her. Glimmer started with a low growl that evolved into an almost animalistic roar.

Glimmer brandished both her hands at Arya and Arya began to be surrounded by the dark purple aura. Arya was lifted up, and became limp, as if she were surrendering herself to Glimmer. The painful electrical surges began storming through Arya's body. She began screaming as she writhed in pain.

"If… this… will… satisfy… you… then… do it… kill me…" Arya managed to choke out. Adora and Bow were still too stunned to move, but Adora managed to shout something.

"Glimmer! Stop! This isn't you! Please, don't do this!" Adora begged. Glimmer turned her head slowly towards Adora as though her neck were a rusty gear that was struggling to move another gear.

"This _is _me." Glimmer muttered, coldly. And with her power, Glimmer used the aura to throw Arya against the defensive wall of Elberon. Arya's body left a deep crack and the dust and concrete shot out of the wall, showing just how much force Glimmer used in throwing Arya. Glimmer then pulled Arya back and started throwing her around at different market kiosks, completely thrashing them. Wood splinters and concrete chunks began flying around with Adora, Bow, Brittni, and Viktor shielding their eyes.

Glimmer then pulled Arya towards herself to admire her handiwork. Arya had become bloodied and beaten. Even her armor was bent out of proportion. Arya choked out some blood and once again apologized.

"I'm… sorry…" Arya choked out. Glimmer simply grinned devilishly at her.

"Don't be sorry… you helped me become this." Glimmer said, coldly. Glimmer then tightened her fists together. A crunching noise came from Arya's body which determined her fate. Glimmer then absorbed the dark purple aura back into her body and watched as Arya's lifeless body fell to the floor. Glimmer stared coldly at Arya. Adora and Bow were at a complete loss of words. Brittni, during this time, managed to grab Viktor and begin sneaking away. But as they were sneaking away, they stared in horror at Arya's fate.

"Glimmer…!" Bow shouted as he switched glances between Arya's corpse and Glimmer's profile, "why? Why are you doing this?" Bow demanded. Glimmer immediately turned to Bow and glared at him.

"I don't need to explain myself any further! We'll leave your precious little Rebellion alone if you stay out of our way. Now if you'll excuse me, I have the rest of this city to conquer." Glimmer sneered. As Glimmer began walking towards Void, a sword was brandished at her.

"For the Honor of Grayskull!" Adora shouted. She then began her dramatic change into She-Ra. The sword then found itself under Glimmer's neck.

"You're not going to hurt anyone, anymore…" Adora threatened. Glimmer was a bit surprised by this uncharacteristic move of Adora, but then became amused. This amusement was manifested by an evil chuckle that evolved into a full blown laugh. She then turned to Adora, grinning. Adora was glaring.

"Is this what you really want to do?" Glimmer inquired.

"No…" Adora admitted, "I would never want to fight you… but if it means protecting others, I will." Adora said. Glimmer then narrowed her eyes as she kept her grin. The dark purple aura around her fists began glowing darker.

"Well, then, I guess it's time to see who's the stronger princess…"


	29. Chapter 29: Ties That Die

Chapter 29: Ties That Die

Adora and Glimmer gazed at each other with different perspectives. While Glimmer's eyes were filled with nothing but contempt, impatience, and annoyance, Adora's eyes pleaded with compassion and intercession. Nevertheless, Adora's sword remained firm in her hand as tip of the blade hid underneath Glimmer's chin. Without any thought of compassion or remorse towards having to hurt her friend, Glimmer jumped back away from the magical blade and brandished her fists at She-Ra. Glimmer attempted to wrap She-Ra within her dark aura, but her dark magic did not seem to have an effect. As Glimmer shot out the aura towards She-Ra, the electrical darkness seemed to collide with an invisible barrier. The aura sparked against the barrier and dissipated. Glimmer shuddered in anger as she saw the ineffectiveness of her power.

Glimmer analyzed what could have blocked her attack and noticed that She-Ra was also brandishing the sword in front of her which acted as some kind of spell breaker. Glimmer grimaced at the sword wondering what to do.

Void took notice of this and decided to act. Around twenty feet to the North East, Void hurled a volley of kunai at She-Ra. Bow reacted quickly to this tag team attack.

"She-Ra! Look out!" Bow yelled as he quickly nocked an arrow and fired it at one of the kunai, successfully deflecting it away from She-Ra.

In addition to Bow's arrow, a bolt of green energy flew towards another kunai, both deflecting and partially melting it. Bow looked back to see Brittni aiming her laser pistol, timing the perfect shot at one of the kunai. Bow smiled at Brittni while she winked at him. The last kunai came within a couple feet from She-Ra, but she used her sword to slice the inferior metallic blade in half, effectively stopping it.

During these elongated moments of quick reactions, however, Glimmer used these distractions to once again attempt to wrap She-Ra in the aura. She was successful, and the dark aura surrounded She-Ra and began to surge electricity through her. She-Ra screamed in pain as she fell to her knees.

"She-Ra!" Bow cried out as he nocked another arrow. He aimed it at Glimmer with the intention of firing at her. Another kunai coming from Void was flung at the arrow and hit it. However, when the two projectiles collided, the arrow exploded, and out of it came a net which was projected at Glimmer, successfully ensnaring her and knocking her back. Glimmer growled in frustration as she struggled to get out of the entanglement.

During this maneuver, the aura around She-Ra broke, and she was able to pick herself up. Void simply scoffed at She-Ra and snapped her fingers. At Void's command, the troops behind her began running passed her, yelling battle cries in unison. A few of the troops had laser rifles and began firing at She-Ra. As the laser bolts flew towards her, she quickly brandished her blade and used it as a shield to deflect the incoming shots. As the lasers hit her blade, they simply ricocheted off, hitting one of the Night Moon soldiers. Bow aimed his arrow and managed to strike a ninja in the leg that was coming within a few feet of him. As the ninja screamed and went down, he managed to hurl a kunai at Bow. Bow rolled to the left towards She-Ra, and aimed his bow once he saw another ninja coming at him.

As Bow fired the arrow, the ninja sliced Bow's arrow in half and jumped up with the intent of plunging his sword into Bow's chest. The ninja would not have that satisfaction, however, as a laser hit him, midair which stopped his attack, and injured him enough that he could not properly aim his sword at Bow. Bow jumped back as the ninja fell at his feet, writhing in pain from the laser that came from Brittni's pistol. Bow looked back at Brittni, taking cover behind a market kiosk, who winked at him. He returned a smile and a nod, then went back into the fight.

At this same time, Brittni quickly thought of another strategy. To the right of the Night Moon attack team was a building with a big sign that read: "Armor: It Will Save Your Life."

_"This is going to be ironic…"_ Brittni thought to herself as she aimed her pistol. She accurately fired her pistol at two large bolts that were holding the sign up. Once the lasers hit the bolts, the sign began collapsing, and eventually fell on top of the three riflemen that were firing at She-Ra.

She-Ra looked back at Brittni and smiled. Her eyes had an unspoken communication that said, 'Thank you' to Brittni. Brittni nodded in return and even made a half smile. This act of goodwill would have to wait, however, as Glimmer managed to disentangle her way out of the net. Glimmer growled as she picked herself up, her eyes seething with rage. Brittni aimed her pistol at Glimmer and fired a few rounds near her hands, hoping to incapacitate them. Instead, Glimmer used her powers to wrap the lasers in her dark aura. The laser bolts turned the same color as the dark purple aura. She then shoved her hands forward, causing the bolts to fly in different directions. One towards She-Ra, one towards Bow, and the last towards Brittni. Brittni was able to duck behind the market kiosk, with the laser bolt flying passed her and hitting the building behind her.

She-Ra managed to slice the bolt in half, successfully deflecting it, but Bow was not as fortunate. The bolt managed to hit his right shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain as he flew back onto the ground.

"Bow!" She-Ra and Brittni shouted, simultaneously. Brittni ran over to Bow, grabbed onto him, and dragged him towards the building that Viktor was held up in. She-Ra switched her gaze from Bow to Glimmer. Once her eyes met Glimmer, there was no longer supplication or sympathy. No, now there was rage, and this rage was manifested by She-Ra running towards Glimmer with the intent to harm. Glimmer was actually taken aback, thinking that Adora wouldn't have the gumption to fight back. Maybe she was right about Adora, but She-Ra was a different story.

Glimmer once again tried to use her powers against She-Ra to no avail. As the dark aura streamed out of her hands, She-Ra simply swiped her sword, causing the aura to collide with a spark against sword's invisible barrier. She-Ra moved ever closer, jumping up and drop kicking Glimmer in the chest. The power that was activated in She-Ra was signified by her dropkick, as it sent Glimmer flying into a wall.

The wall cracked and dusted as Glimmer's partially armored body hit it. Glimmer slumped to the floor, groaning. She-Ra picked herself up from the drop kick and started marching towards Glimmer. Void threw a few more kunais, which She-Ra easily deflected. Void was about to run towards She-Ra when Brittni began firing her pistol as she was carrying Bow to the building. Void backflipped a few times away from Brittni's laser fire and hid behind the corner of a building. Brittni continued firing as she pulled Bow towards the building that she had placed Viktor in while he healed from his wound.

She-Ra on the other hand was within a foot of Glimmer and picked her up by the chest plate with one hand. She-Ra held her sword against Glimmer's neck, while Glimmer glared and groaned as she held onto She-Ra's wrist. She-Ra returned the glare. Glimmer shuddered at the look that She-Ra had in her eyes. She had the eyes with the intent to kill.

"Go ahead, Adora. Do it! Stop me! Go ahead, stick your sword in my neck!" Glimmer jeered. She-Ra shuddered, with her sword-hand shaking. Glimmer smirked at this action. And chided She-Ra with her next line, "Heh, I knew you couldn't do it!" Glimmer yelled as she poured her energy into her foot and kicked She-Ra in the stomach. Although it didn't hurt She-Ra that much, it caused enough of a distraction that Glimmer was able to activate her power and surged her electricity through She-Ra. She-Ra in response began crying out in pain and fell to her knees. Once She-Ra fell to her knees, Glimmer straightened out her back and then cocked her right arm back.

Glimmer then reabsorbed the electricity that was surging through She-Ra's body and focused it to her right fist. Once full of power, Glimmer gave She-Ra a right hook in the face that sent her flying a few feet away. The impact of She-Ra hitting the cobblestone road kicked up chunks of dust and stone as she barreled down the road. Glimmer, fully enraged at this point, was breathing heavily with each inhalation she took. She then menacingly started marching over to She-Ra.

While this was happening, Brittni was beginning her treatment on Bow, applying a dressing and binding his wound. Viktor in the meanwhile, mustered up what strength he had left and set himself up near a window that faced Glimmer. He set his rifle on the window sill and took aim at Glimmer. Right before he took the shot, he felt a sharp pain in his diaphragm that made him lose his focus. His rifle tilted to the left, so his shot barely grazed the back of Glimmer's right leg. Despite the graze, it was enough for her to drop to the ground and cry out in pain. She looked over at the source of her pain and saw Viktor posted on the window.

"Brittni! Get out of here! Viktor yelled. Brittni turned to Viktor, confused. Without turning, Viktor added, "get the archer and the eight foot chick outta here! I'll hold them off!" Brittni switched glances between Viktor and Glimmer; who was trudging ever closer to the window. Brittni then turned to Bow.

"Bow, do you have another flashbang arrow?" Brittni inquired. Bow pointed behind at his quiver.

"It's the blue, bulky arrow." Bow explained. Brittni nodded and grabbed both the arrow and Bow's weapon. Before Bow had time to protest Brittni's borrowing method, she nocked the arrow and pulled back. The weight was set at eighty pounds, which meant it required a great deal of force to pull it back. Brittni was strong, but the weight was set for a master archer. With Bow's free hand, he pulled on her elbow to help her pull back. Together, they let the arrow fly at Glimmer. Glimmer using her powers, wrapped the arrow in her dark aura before it hit her.

"A flashbang arrow, huh? How cute, would you like it back?" Glimmer sneered. Before she could hurl it back, Viktor took a shot at it with his rifle, his laser successfully piercing through the aura and causing the flashbang to burst and temporarily blind Glimmer. She screamed in frustration as she began rubbing her eyes, attempting to alleviate the blindness.

During this tumult of battle, voices around Brittni began quieting to her ears. She looked around confused for a moment. All of a sudden, the necklace that Oracle gave to her began glowing, and Oracle's voice came to her mind.

"Brittni, Viktor is correct. The rest of the Night Moon army is approaching from the North. They will soon overtake you if you don't leave immediately!" Oracle cautioned through her mind. Brittni's lip quivered. She did not want to leave Viktor, but her mother did know best. A few seconds after Oracle spoke, the voices and sounds slowly became audible again, to the deafening of Brittni's ear. Viktor was looking at Brittni in desperation.

"Brittni? What are you doing?! There's still the other one! Go! Now!" Viktor yelled. Brittni gave Viktor a solemn look of desperation but knew that he was right.

"Stay alive, Viktor." Brittni commanded. He nodded and motioned with his head for her to leave. Brittni picked Bow up and wrapped his shoulder around her and walked him out while Glimmer was blinded. They picked up the pace as they ran towards She-Ra. Although, she was no longer She-Ra, but had transformed back into Adora. While Brittni and Bow ran over to her, Void attempted to throw a kunai, but Brittni without turning, put the laser pistol in her left hand and shot the kunai midair. Void let out an impressed exclamation. She was going to start running towards Brittni, but was pinned down by Viktor's laser fire.

Brittni handed Bow her laser pistol and picked up Adora, hoisting her over her shoulders. Bow aimed at Void, but she had already disappeared. He was visibly confused, then grew concerned when he heard a clamor. Off in the distance, coming from the second tier of the city an uproar was heard. Brittni and Bow turned towards it and saw the Night Moon army running full speed towards them.

"We need to go. Now!" Bow yelled. Brittni nodded, and the two made their way to the East, away from Void, Glimmer… and Viktor. There was not any opposition on the way there, meaning the bulk of the Night Moon army must have been apart of the clamor that was coming from the North. Eventually, the trio did make it to the Eastern gate, and managed to slip out. Once out, they took cover in a grove of trees on the outskirts of the city and began moving deeper into the forest. Once they were deep enough in the woods, Brittni gently set an unconscious Adora down against a tree. Bow leaned against a tree and slumped down into it, letting out an elongated and breathy sigh. Brittni leaned against a tree and began panting heavily.

Brittni felt guilt and helplessness of the fact that she left Viktor behind. She wondered if she could have at least tried to carry him out of there. Of course, logically speaking she could barely carry Adora out, seeing as how Brittni was only five feet tall carrying a full grown woman, let alone another full grown man. And there was also Dragstor, but again, Brittni could not have saved all of them.

Regardless of the logic, Brittni was angry at what she was forced to do. With all the adrenaline pumping through her veins, Brittni growled and punched a tree, causing a multitude of bark and wood to splinter and fly in all directions. She started tearing up but quickly wiped it away, remembering that she had a patient to treat.

Brittni went over to Bow and placed her hand on his pauldron. He looked up, his countenance completely melancholy. She took a look at his right shoulder that had been bound up.

"I need to check your wound really quick. It might hurt taking the binding off, but I'll try to be gentle." Brittni promised. Bow nodded then grimaced as Brittni began peeling away the bandage. Once the bandage was off, she performed her analysis.

"It's a fourth degree burn… there's a lot of charred tissue. Although the laser only grazed the top, it managed to tear through some of the muscles." Brittni muttered. She rubbed her chin for a few moments then sighed. "I can treat it, but-" Brittni began before interrupting her own thoughts. Bow eyed her in desperation.

"This is going to be… a little weird, but hang on." Brittni said. She then placed her hand on Bow's shoulder. He irked a bit in pain but Brittni softly shushed him. She then began speaking in reverse like Oracle taught her, "!delaeh eb ot ydob siht dnammoc I ,roivaS eht fo eman eht nI"

Right before the duos eyes, the charred flesh began shedding. Brittni took a closer look and found that the trapezius muscle, and deltoid muscles began rapidly regenerating and coming together. Bow shuddered and stared awestruck as the top of his skin began regenerating as well, and began pulling itself together. After a few more moments, his shoulder was completely healed. Bow switched glances between Brittni and his shoulder and started stammering.

"I-You-Shoulder-But-H...How? How did you do that?!" Bow inquired, excitedly. Brittni let out a chuckle.

"I, uh… learned that from my mother, actually." Brittni admitted. Bow eyed Brittni analytically.

"Are… are you a princess?" Bow inquired. That question really struck Brittni. She had never even considered the fact that she could potentially be a princess. Right as Bow posed that question, Brittni became dumbfounded, not knowing exactly how to answer that question. She put together the facts that supported that argument.

The first possibility was that Oracle could very well be a queen. What kind of queen, she couldn't say. But, Oracle did indeed have magical powers. The second thing to acknowledge was that Brittni connected to a runestone; that is, the Crystal Ball. The Crystal Ball, once it made connection with Brittni, it immediately gave Brittni her power. However, at the same time, Brittni and Brett have always inherently had the "Gift of Discernment," that is, they've always had a superhuman ability to observe and react. But then again, maybe those were passive powers, like how Scorpia has her pincers and poison tail.

Nevertheless, Brittni did not know the answer, and manifested it to Bow.

"A… a princess?" Brittni inquired. She then scoffed, "sorry, arrow boy, I don't do the whole princess thing. I'm just a girl that happens to know how to heal… magically and medicinally." Brittni stated. Bow let out a soft chuckle.

"Well, whatever you are… thank you. Thank you for everything." Bow said, genuinely. Brittni took a seat next to Bow.

"Well, it's what I do. I am a nurse after all. I've sworn an oath to heal anyone, including those that are my enemies-" Brittni began before choking on the last statement. For a moment, the two looked at each other. Even though they were *technically* enemies, one could easily mistake them as friends. Brittni quickly added, "sorry… I-I didn't mean… well…"

"I get it." Bow started, looking towards the sky, "you're apart of the Horde, I'm apart of the Rebellion, so naturally we have to fight, right?" Bow said, almost sarcastically. For a few moments, both of them were silent, while contemplating what each other was saying. Finally, Bow spoke again.

"You know, I met your brother. Brett, right?" Bow asked, turning his head to Brittni. Brittni widened her eyes, then her eyebrows and mouth curved into a frown as she looked down. She felt guilt as she remembered that Brett was sent to capture him and Glimmer. Suddenly, Brittni began piecing together all the factors that most likely lead to Glimmer's descent towards evil.

"Yeah… I… I'm sorry about what happened… I heard that you and Glimmer were… taken." Brittni muttered as a tear fell out of her eye. She looked away and wiped it away. Bow noticed and continued.

"Well, you weren't the one that did it… but, thanks for apologizing anyway." Bow said, gratefully. Brittni, still looking away simply nodded her head. Bow then continued, "you know, I managed to talk to your brother for a little bit before we were taken to the Fright Zone." Brittni sniffled and looked back at Bow.

"Yeah?" Brittni inquired. Bow nodded.

"See, he asked why I was being so friendly to him, and I just told him that we were both people and that we could still find reason and be civil. Then I posed a question to him, I asked, ' if we were born in each others circumstances, would we still believe our side was still right?" Brittni was shocked by Bow's thought provoking question. Especially since that's something that she had been wondering for so long.

"You know, I thought about that myself, actually. For a long time I wondered which of the two factions was right? But y'know, the more that I've fought alongside you, and heard from both perspectives, it seems that neither one is right." Brittni declared. Bow cocked his eyebrow. Brittni saw his confusion and explained how the war started, according to Hordak. She recounted when Hordak had began his settlement and Bright Moon was taxing him to death. She also acknowledged that the Horde had been raiding Rebellion towns and outposts, but in return, the Rebellion attacked Horde outposts and field camps.

"It's basically been a huge game of push and shove. Bright Moon attempted to kill Hordak, Hordak attacks Bright Moon. Rebellion is formed and attacks the Horde. The Horde fights back, et cetera. It just seems to be a fight that most people don't want to be apart of and don't even know why they're fighting!" Brittni declared. Bow was astonished by this flood of information and revelations that Brittni was dropping on him.

"I guess when you're fighting on one side, you only see one perspective. I mean, I've definitely witnessed atrocities committed by the Horde… but I guess I've never considered what the Rebellion has done to the Horde." Bow said.

"Exactly… honestly, all I want is peace between the two factions. And I think that we could achieve that if we could get the leaders to see reason." Brittni said. Bow softly chuckled at that.

"Heh, normally I'm an optimist, but getting Hordak and Queen Angella in the same room would be like throwing a nuke into a volcano." Bow said, jokingly. Brittni couldn't help but laugh at the analogy.

"I know. But, I mean it. I'm sure there's plenty in the Horde and Rebellion that feel the same way I do. Plus… I was also told by my mother that I would be able to unite the factions… but that's a story for another day." Brittni said.

"Hey, if you could actually unite the two, I'd be game." Bow said, hopefully. Brittni smiled. For a few moments, the two were silent again.

During these moments, the two were able to reflect on what had transpired. Bow was visibly distraught at what Glimmer had become and what she had done to him. Brittni was just terrified at witnessing Glimmer's malevolence and power. Brittni then noticed that Bow was deep in thought, and she perceived his thoughts.

"I'm sorry about Glimmer." Brittni said, genuinely. Bow looked at her for a few moments and nodded somberly.

"Me, too…" Bow said, looking away. He then added, "y'know, I think you're right about the Rebellion not being this completely noble and righteous force. After all, Arya was one of the factors that lead to Glimmer being like this."

"Yeah, I heard that Arya was the one that gave Hordak the go-ahead to… execute her." Brittni said. As she said that, she shuddered, considering that the Horde did indeed commit evil acts. Bow nodded in reply.

"It wasn't just her, though. Ever since Elberon, Glimmer has become… kind of power hungry. She was so mad at the Horde for everything they've done that it started driving her crazy. Right before we met you and Adora, Glimmer told me that she needed to be stronger and that she needed more power. The way that she said it… It… it didn't sound right. Like she had some kind of darkness taking over her or something…" Bow explained. Brittni nodded and looked forward.

"Well, looks like she got it…" Brittni muttered. A few moments later, Brittni's necklace began illuminating again. Bow looked over.

"What's that?" Bow inquired. Brittni turned to him and smiled.

"My mother…"

_Meanwhile, back at the Fright Zone…_

Entrapta had spent her time delighting herself with all the technological marvels that the Horde had to offer. At one point she explained one of her projects, which was to meld Horde technology with a foreign technology that Entrapta simply referred to as, 'First One's Tech.' She explained that it was a highly advanced piece of automation that made the greatest technological feats of the Horde look as though they were children's toys. Hordak was intrigued by the proposition, and sent Catra on a research mission to find this technology.

While this was happening, Brett became more infatuated with Entrapta. There was one particular afternoon when Entrapta was working in the workshop that was given to her. She was creating robots that would be able to regenerate its metal. Brett joined her as he was not only fascinated with her idea… but with her in general.

"Hi, Brett!" Entrapta said jubilantly as Brett walked into the workshop, "you're just in time! Oh, I'm making great strides towards perfecting this bot." Entrapta said, referring to the bot she had cables injected into while she was programming it with a computer. Brett smiled and walked over to the computer to read the results. While many in the Horde would be completely lost at the coding terminology, Brett picked it up rather easily.

"You're talking about regenerating metal?" Brett inquired. Entrapta turned her head towards Brett excitedly and let out a gasp.

"You… you understand my work?!" Entrapta inquired, "I've never met anyone that's understood the code I'm researching!" Brett chuckled.

"Well, let's just say I have a special talent for technology." Brett said, happily. He continued reading her research and added, "sounds like what you're looking for is a metal that can modify its temperature. For instance, like when you weld two pieces of metal together, you bring them to a melting point then you fabricate them and mold them to whatever shape you desire…" Again, Entrapta was impressed with his understanding. She began using her hair as a mobile chair and used it to pace around the room.

"Yes! Well, that's part of it. The only problem is that in the middle of a battle, it would take time for the metal to heat, re-shape, and cool down, rendering it less than effective…" Entrapta stopped her stride for a moment, then moved right up to Brett's face and added, "But! According to my research with First One's technology, there is a code that would allow us to give an AI command that would perform these processes in seconds." Entrapta explained. Brett was impressed by her work just as she was with his.

"Well… until Catra comes back with that salvage mission you sent her on, I guess all we can do is bounce around theories." Brett suggested. Nervously, Brett then added with a cough,

"O...Over dinner?" Entrapta blinked at him a few times. The sweat around Brett's forehead began building up. Entrapta stared hard at him for a few seconds that seemed to last hours. Finally, she grinned widely.

"Sure! As long as the food is… well, tiny." Entrapta said.

"Great!" Brett said a little too excitedly. He then gave a nervous chuckle as he scratched the back of his neck, then added, "uh, yeah, come back to my quarters, I've got just the thing for you."

_Meanwhile, back at Elberon… _

While Brittni had made her escape with the Bow and Adora, Viktor was left to fend for himself. Glimmer had retreated to the building that Void was previously, but did not find her there. Nevertheless, the Night Moon army had approached Glimmer, awaiting her command. She then ordered them to storm Viktor's position. The Night Moon army shouted as the advanced around the corner of the building that Glimmer was taking cover behind.

Viktor shuddered for a moment at the impending doom that awaited him as the Night Moon army ran towards him. Nevertheless, he steeled himself for this encounter. He was ready to die, and to take as many of Night Moon soldiers as he could. He began firing potshots, indiscriminately at the incoming enemies. He managed to pick off a few in the front until he took a laser in between his neck and shoulder. He fell backwards writhing in pain and holding onto where he was wounded. A few Night Moon soldiers ran into the building but were shocked at what they saw. There Viktor was, grinning at them with a couple metal rings adorning his fingers. The Night Moon in the front eyed him suspiciously until they saw why he was grinning.

As they looked down at their feet, they saw two grenades.

"Boom." Viktor muttered while laughing. The Night Moon soldiers bounded out of there as fast as they could. It was too late, however, as the explosion behind them sent them flying away from the building. Only one survived as the other two were caught too strongly in the blast. Glimmer peered around the corner and gasped. She marched over to the remaining Night Moon soldier and picked him up.

"Is he dead?" Glimmer demanded. The soldier was visibly shaken, but he managed to nod his head. The other Night Moon soldiers that were outside the blast range just stood there in awe of what just happened. Glimmer removed her hands from the survivor of the blast and turned to the rest of the soldiers.

"Alright, the rest of you. Find any other Horde members and kill them. Once we sweep this entire city, report back here. Go!" Glimmer commanded.

The Night Moon army had hunted down and eliminated every piece of Horde loyalist that was left in the city. There were many that managed to evacuate, but still, the casualty rate among the Horde was catastrophic. During this commotion, there was one person that was unaccounted for:

Void.

_During this time, Void was attending a secret meeting… _

Void had made her way to the Horde command garrison. The Night Moons had already neutralized any remaining Horde soldiers and were in the middle of securing the area. Within the command garrison was a large communication tower. Because Elberon was a remote city, it had to have long range communications to signal help to other outposts and settlements. Void had different plans with this communication, however. When she marched into the room, she took note of the computer that would allow her to connect her to her contact. She inserted a nano-technology router into the computer that would boost the communications signal to outer limit proportions. Once the signal was stabilized, Void was able to make the call.

"Hail, my Lord." Void spoke into the microphone. A few seconds went by, and a rather distorted voice scrambled through the speaker of the computer.

"Ah, Void. I was wondering when you'd finally make contact with me. I'm assuming that your mission is going as planned?" The voice inquired. Void smirked.

"Better than we had planned, my Lord. Princess Glimmer of Bright Moon has joined the cause. What's more, she has inside information regarding both the Horde and the Rebellion." Void said excitedly. The voice replied with heavy breathing.

"And the technology we spoke of?" The voice inquired.

"Before Glimmer left the Fright Zone, she managed to secure some information regarding that technology. As soon as we secure this town, I will begin ascertaining locations that have the materials needed to make it." Void replied. The voice let out more heavy breathing that evolved into maniacal laughter.

"You've done well, Void. See that you are victorious in your goals. Good luck." The voice said.

"Thank you, my Lord. I must leave now, but I will contact you again once I have the materials." Void said.

"Indeed. I look forward to your progress, Void." The voice said. Once the voice said its last words, the communication shut off.

"It will be good to see you again…" Void muttered to herself as she picked herself up and began walking out of the communication room.

"...Father."


	30. Chapter 30: Walking Tall

Chapter 30: Walking Tall

_Around ten minutes before Void and Night Moon assaulted the Communications Center… _

In the main communications hub, a few Horde soldiers and technicians were barricading the door using desks, filing cabinets; basically, anything they could find. They were trying to buy enough time so that they could send out a distress signal to any nearby Horde outposts. Their message began as a request for reinforcements, but soon they realized that Elberon was lost. They then adjusted the message to warn the outposts to fortify their positions and set up sentries to warn of any potential besiegement.

Once the message was relayed to all nearby outposts, the remaining techs and soldiers looked to the superior officer in the room:

...Dragstor.

"Sir?" One of the soldiers began as he walked over to Dragstor. Around the time Brittni left Elberon to go see Oracle, one of the medical engineers managed to fit Dragstor with a powered exoframe that managed to connect his nerves to the mechanical actuators and servos on the frame. This allowed him to walk; and not too soon, as the only reason he was able to escape from the medical center was this device. The only problem, however, was that the device was still in its alpha stages and required a substantial amount of power. Dragstor basically had enough power to lead his men to the comm center, and maybe a quick walk around the block. At any rate, Dragstor, standing near the FM transmitter just finished sending the message, then turned to the soldier.

"Speak freely," Dragstor muttered. The soldier nodded.

"Well, sir, we were all wondering what our next move is. All local radio chatter has gone completely silent, and the rest of the evacuation transports are no longer in communication range… I'm pretty sure that we're alone here, sir." The soldier said, unnerved. Dragstor said nothing for a few moments but began to walk towards the barricade. He put his hand on it, sighed, then turned to the rest of the group.

"We know nothing of this enemy we're fighting. They're more tactical and barbaric than the Rebellion, so it's no wonder they caught us by surprise. What I want now more than anything is to find out who they are and what their objectives are. To that end, I will stay back to figure out what that is. I guarantee that they'll be coming to the comm center soon. They'll be coming for two reasons: One, to sever any potential call for reinforcements or distress… guess they failed there. Secondly, they'll most likely use this place to contact their superiors. I'm going to stay behind to find out who that is." Dragstor explained.

The soldiers and techs looked around at each other and began to talk excitedly. Dragstor put up his hand to calm them.

"But, sir… the Horde needs you." One of the soldiers protested. To this, Dragstor simply shook his head and chuckled.

"Soldier, I've dedicated my life to the advancement of the Horde. I've lived the best life I could have imagined. I'm a relic at this point… besides, this powered exoskeleton has just enough voltage to make one last stand." Dragstor explained. Although everyone in the room did not want to believe it, it nevertheless was true. Dragstor then continued,

"The rest of you can escape through the roof. I'm going to be here to record everything. That way we can find out just who we're dealing with. Once it's recorded, I'll send the transmission, via a hotspot. At the moment, I can't get a direct transmission to the Fright Zone. However, in the desk under the FM transmitter, there's a device that will allow you to wirelessly download the recording. I'll need at least one of you to stay on the rooftop and get the recording. Once you have it, get out of here as fast as you can. On foot, it'll be tricky, but if you head West, you'll be able to meet a woman that can help you. Her name is Oracle." Dragstor continued to explain.

The soldiers and techs continued to gaze at Dragstor with unsurety and slight confusion. He just explained a lot, and they were trying to wrap their heads around all of what Dragstor said. Right as the group was digesting everything Dragstor had explained, they heard a not too distant explosion, most likely coming from the outside of the comm center.

"They're in the building. You have to move! Now, who's taking the device?" Dragstor demanded.

"I'll do it, Captain Dragstor!" One of the soldiers shouted as she grabbed the device from inside the desk. Dragstor nodded.

"Well done. Alright, now all of you, get out of here!" Dragstor shouted. As he shouted that, the group heard muttered chatter from the next room followed by an attempt to open the door.

"Ma'am! We found the main communications room, but it's locked and possibly barricaded!" A Night Moon soldier yelled. Dragstor looked to the rest of the group and motioned for them to get onto the roof. They all nodded and began scrambling up the ladder that lead to the roof. The soldier that took the device gave one last salute to Dragstor.

"God speed, sir…" She said, somberly. Dragstor nodded and saluted back. The hatch to the roof was then shut, and the soldiers began welding it shut with their energy batons. Dragstor in the meantime activated the recording device and set up the hotspot. Once that was done he saw that a spark began drawing a line through the door. The Night Moons were trying to cut through the door using a blow torch.

In response, Dragstor equipped himself with a rail driving rifle. It was a break-action weapon that would fire caseless slugs of pure uranium that would pierce even a tank. Dragstor aimed his weapon at the door and squeezed the trigger. The slug flew out of the rifle's barrel at a velocity of 4500 km/hr, piercing the door and sending the victim of its shot flying into- and plastering against the wall. In response to this defense, a barrage of laser fire began soaring through the door towards Dragstor. Dragstor dove to the ground as the lasers flew above him, charring the wall behind him. Dragstor then heard another voice.

"Careful, you fools! You'll damage the comm equipment!" An older, feminine voice declared. Dragstor did not give them a chance to recuperate from his attack. He loaded another slug into the rifle, and fired it, blasting a perfectly round hole in the wall where his shot went. Growls and grunts were heard in response and the older feminine voice screeched.

"That's it! Set the explosives!" The voice said. A few moments later, Dragstor started hearing a beep, indicating a countdown timer.

"Oh, no…" Dragstor muttered. He picked himself up and was about to run for cover when the battery in his exoskeleton gave out. He cried out in pain as his limbs lost their strength and he fell flat on his face. Dragstor grunted and groaned, but realized the time was ticking faster. He then started using what strength he had in his arms to start pulling himself towards cover. Once the countdown started beeping in quick succession, he knew he had only seconds left. There was a rather large locker that he would be able to fit into. He reached the locker and grabbed the edges to pick himself up. He then grabbed the top shelf of the locker and with all the adrenaline and strength left in his body, pulled himself up, then sealed himself in the locker.

3...

2...

1…

**BOOM. **The explosive charge blasted the door and the barricade sending splinters and chunks of wood and steel flying around the room. A few seconds later, a Night Moon squadron swarmed in, wafting away the dust and debris, looking for any survivors. One of the soldiers went up to the locker that was holding Dragstor and carefully started opening it. Once Dragstor noticed the door start to open, he shoved it, causing it to smack the soldier in the face. Dragstor started falling over, with his exoskeleton's power completely giving out. He fell onto the soldier that he had hit with the locker door and simultaneously grabbed onto him and flipped him over; Dragstor being on the bottom and the soldier being on top of him. Once they were both on the ground, a few other Night Moon soldiers began firing their lasers, attempting to hit Dragstor, but instead only hit the soldier that was on top of him.

Once they ceased fire, Dragstor pushed the soldier on top of him away and readied his rail driving rifle. He was still on his back and faced away from the soldiers, but he was able to fire the rail driver without looking and successfully fired the slug right between one of the Night Moon soldiers' eyes. The other soldier growled and aimed his rifle at Dragstor. As the soldier squeezed the trigger, a gloved hand pushed the rifle up, causing it to fire at the ceiling and crack it. The soldier looked over to see Void shaking her head at him.

Dragstor managed to turn himself ninety degrees towards Void. Behind her was a multitude of soldiers aiming their rifles at him. To this, Dragstor simply smirked and even began laughing. Void slowly walked towards him, the heel of her boots clicking loudly as she moved towards him. She knelt down to him and smirked behind her mask.

"Night Moon, search the rest of this building. Make sure that no more of Hordak's lackeys get away." Void commanded. The soldiers nodded and made their way out of the room. It was just Void and Dragstor now. The two masked figures stared at each other. Although they could not see the eyes of each other, there was still an unspoken modicum of respect towards one another.

"Night Moon, huh?" Dragstor rasped out. He chuckled a bit then added, "Haven't heard of you. But, I knew it couldn't be the Rebellion; you were actually able to perform a successful attack." Dragstor said facetiously.

There were very few things that could amuse Void, but that sarcasm that Dragstor just quipped made her smirk.

"Well, I'm happy to see somebody that can appreciate those that have a talent for war." Void replied. Dragstor nodded, still on his back.

"Now, I have to know, why did you attack Elberon?" Dragstor inquired. Void slowly picked herself up until she was fully standing and began pacing around Dragstor.

"Mostly because we needed a headquarters, but what I really wanted was this communications center. I heard that Elberon has one of the few deep range transmitters that would allow anyone using it to send a message clear across the planet." Void explained.

"You slaughtered an entire town just to get to the communication center?" Dragstor demanded. Void stopped moving for a moment, then peered atop Dragstor.

"...No, that was just for personal fun. Well, and Princess Glimmer wanted revenge against the Horde for what they did." Void explained. Dragstor chuckled upon hearing that.

"So, the little princess does have a backbone. How rich. But… there's something specific you wanted to use the deep range transmitter for. What is it?" Dragstor demanded. Void let out a chuckle that evolved into a laughing uproar.

"I'd guess that you're trying to get information for your precious 'Horde.' Hmph… The Horde. You have no idea what's coming for you… But I'll tell you what. For your curiosity, I'll tell you exactly who I am and who I represent..." Void said cryptically. She then knelt down next to Dragstor again and whispered something in his ear.

What Void revealed to Dragstor was inaudible to the recorder. What could be determined, however, is that the eyes underneath Dragstor's mask became wider than the circumference of the world. He began shuddering.

"No… there's no way, how could-" Dragstor began before Void quietly shushed him.

"Now, my dear Horde officer, I have just one offer for you. You seem to be a rational and capable warrior who's wasting his potential with the Horde. How would you like to make your mark on the world under the Night Moon banner?" Void offered. Dragstor scoffed.

"I'd rather die," Dragstor said, bluntly. These would be the last words he would declare, as the moment he finished his declaration, Void shoved a kunai into his neck. Dragstor started coughing out blood that filled up his mask. He started choking, grabbing his neck, desperate for air. Void simply watched him apathetically as he quickly lost blood. Before long, between the neck wound and choking on blood, Dragstor's life ceased to exist… and the secrets Void disclosed to him would remain a mystery…

...Or would they?

_Meanwhile, back in the forest near Elberon… _

As Brittni's necklace began illuminating, a radiant beam of life began projecting from the crystal that was held by the necklace. Out of the light came a magical hologram which revealed Oracle, sitting in her armchair.

"Ah! What is that?!" Bow exclaimed, reaching for his bow. Brittni put her hand on his shoulder and turned her head to him.

"I told you, it's my mother," Brittni said, smiling. Bow switched glances between Brittni and Oracle.

"Oh, uh, it's, uh, nice to meet you… Brittni's mom." Bow said, kindly. Oracle giggled in response.

"Ah, Bow, you always have been the most cheerful lad. Trust me, your fathers would be proud of you." Oracle said, smiling. Bow blinked his eyes a few times, confused. Oracle then added, "and by the way, you can tell them that you're a soldier for the Rebellion, and not attending that made up boarding school. They'll accept you no matter what." Oracle finished, winking at Bow. Once she made that declaration, Bow's jaw and heart seemed to drop simultaneously. He began stammering with his words as he switched glances and pointed at Oracle.

"I- She- But- How?" Bow sputtered out. Brittni giggled as she stood up.

"It's a long story, Bow," Brittni said. She then turned to Oracle and continued, "Mom… I'm sure you already know, but Elberon is lost…" Oracle nodded her head.

"Yes… Sadly I've already seen the destruction…" Oracle said somberly as she looked away and sighed. She then turned her head back to Brittni and continued, "but, I'm afraid there is no time to mourn. I'm sorry, but time is of the essence and I have tasks for each of you… starting with you, Adora."

Brittni and Bow looked at each other, then looked over Oracle's shoulder and saw Adora leaning against a tree, wide awake.

"H...How did you know I was awake-" Adora began before being interrupted by Brittni.

"She's an oracle, hence her name: Oracle," Brittni said. Adora blinked her eyes, and Brittni pointed at her, continuing, "and how long have you been awake?!" Brittni demanded. Adora looked away and sighed.

"The whole time… I'm sorry, I just… I figured you'd be more open to talking to Bow than me since things are kind of… tense between us." Adora admitted. Brittni grumbled for a brief moment. Adora was not wrong in that assumption; as Brittni would have been more reluctant to converse about the various things she talked with Bow about to Adora. Regardless, what's done was done, and the only important concerns were the tasks at hand. Brittni looked to Oracle who nudged her head to the back, signaling for Brittni to go over to Adora and forgive her. Perhaps it was a familial intuition, but that's at least what Brittni believed Oracle was saying in her silent communication.

Obeying the hushed implication, Brittni went over to Adora and held out her hand. Adora eyed Brittni with gratitude and happily took her hand. Once Adora was standing face to face with Brittni; (at least, kind of face-to-face. After all, Brittni was 5'0, while Adora had eight or nine inches,) the two stared at each other. For an elongated few moments, neither of them said anything, but for some reason, the enmity and bitterness between them seemed to begin to fade. Finally, Brittni spoke.

"I'm sorry about Glimmer." Brittni said, offering sympathy. A tear or two began streaming down Adora's face, and she wiped it away.

"Yeah… me too." Adora said with a sigh. She then added, "But thank you… and, I… I'm sorry about Viktor." Brittni nodded.

"Heh, I'm glad to know that two opposing factions can still show sympathy towards each other." Brittni said, half-joking. Adora chuckled a little bit then just gazed at Brittni. At that moment, Adora wanted nothing more than to wrap Brittni in a hug and just let her know just how sorry she was for leaving her and the Horde. She restrained herself, however, thinking that would just anger Brittni. Little did Adora know, however, Brittni felt the opposite way.

Brittni stepped to Adora, wrapped her in a hug and squeezed tight. Adora was taken completely by surprise by this action; in particular when she felt Brittni's tears seep into her sleeve where her shoulder was. Adora then embraced Brittni back and felt not only the physical but emotional warmth. Through this simple action, the two former friends were now reunited through the saving grace of penitence and forgiveness. Bow quickly joined in on the hug, to which, the two girls happily accepted. After a few minutes, the three broke up the hug and started laughing. They then all looked to Oracle who merely smiled warmly at them.

"Oh, uh, sorry, Mom. We didn't mean to waste time." Brittni said, apologetically. Oracle stood up from her chair.

"Reforging a broken friendship will never be a waste of time." Oracle assured them, "forgiveness is an integral part to create and maintain peace on Etheria." The three nodded at Oracle to which she grinned. Her grin was short-lived, however, as she put on a more serious countenance.

"Now, then, listen closely. I have specific objectives for all of you to do..."

_Meanwhile, back at the Fright Zone… _

Despite Brett having no experience in regards to romance, he wanted to give Entrapta some kind of a genuine date. He brought her back to his quarters and ended up making her tiny pancakes; as they were the only food that he knew how to make tiny portions of. Brett even brought in the buttering robot so he could demonstrate its one directive. As the bot buttered her pancakes, Entrapta clapped her hands in delight.

"How genius!" Entrapta bubbled, "a bot designed to help with an incredibly menial task! That helps us save time for more research!" Brett chuckled as he sat across from Entrapta, barely nibbling on his pancakes. Entrapta, in the meanwhile, was consuming the tiny, golden, fluff discs by the dozens. Brett was pretty astonished.

"I have to ask, you're demolishing through those pancakes like you haven't eaten in days… I hope it's not too intrusive to ask, but what's so special about tiny food?" Brett inquired, Entrapta stopped midway with a forked pancake headed straight for her mouth. She closed her mouth and put the pancake on the plate.

"Oh... um. I, uh. Well, I just find tiny food comforting." Entrapta said awkwardly. Brett's cheeks blushed.

"_Oh, great move, Brett. Why would you ask something so awkward?!" _Brett thought to himself. He then spoke aloud.

"Oh, right. Sorry, I guess I was just curious. Don't get me wrong, I think it's totally cool. Yeah, I mean, hey, maybe I should try eating tiny food." Brett said all jumbly. Entrapta smiled and started giggling.

"_Oh, great job, Brett. Can't you shut up for just a minute?!" _Brett again thought to himself. He cleared his throat and decided to switch the topic.

"So, uh, anyway. What do you think about the Fright Zone?" Brett inquired. Entrapta put her hands on the table and used her hair to move her face close to Brett's.

"Oh, my goodness! It has been absolutely wonderful here! I have been able to perform my research more efficiently with all of the technology that the Horde has at its disposal! It's been absolutely amazing!" Entrapta said, her eyes glowing with jubilance. She then placed herself back in her seat and continued munching her pancakes.

Brett smiled, acknowledging her happiness, but in the back of his head, he was confused. After all, she was a little too quick to join up with the Horde, almost as if she did not have any true loyalty other than those that could provide her what she wanted. Nevertheless, Brett shook his head, trying to get that thought out of his head.

"Well, hey, I'm glad you're here," Brett said smiling. He then swallowed hard and reached his right hand over and put it on top of Entrapta's free hand. Once he did that, she looked up at Brett with a surprised expression. Brett shuddered vocally and quickly retracted his hand.

"S...sorry." Brett said, embarrassed. Entrapta used one of her hair strands to grab his hand and put it back on top of her hand.

"I also find this comforting." Entrapta said, happily. The two smiled at each other for a few moments that seemed eternal. Brett swallowed hard again and began lifting himself up and reaching his head towards Entrapta. She began blushing, knowing exactly what he was about to do. He was within inches of laying a kiss on Entrapta when all of a sudden, the communication terminal began blaring. Entrapta and Brett both gasped as the sudden noise. Brett let out an exaggerated groan.

"Well, somebody better be dying." He muttered as he walked over to the monitor and patched the transmission through. To his shock and joy, the face on the monitor was none other than his twin sister.

"Brittni! Oh, man, it is great to see you! Where have you been?!" Brett inquired excitedly. Brittni let out a relieved sigh.

"It's good to see you too, Brett." Brittni said with a smile. The smile quickly faded, however, as Brittni went to business, "I wish this were under more pleasant circumstances, but I can't talk long." Brett cocked his eyebrow.

"Where are you even? Are you still at Elberon?" Brett inquired.

"Not exactly… Elberon was… attacked by some group called Night Moon. I managed to escape with a couple others into the nearby woods, but… Listen, I'll explain more about that later. Right now, you and I need to get to a place called, 'Dryl.' You know where that is?" Brittni inquired. Entrapta quickly beamed up.

"Oh! You're talking about my home? That's great!" Entrapta said all bubbly. She then had a blank stare then scratched her chin, "why do we need to go there?" Brittni looked behind Brett and noticed Entrapta. She cocked her eyebrow then inquired:

"Whoa, Brett, did you get a girlfriend?" Brittni teased. Brett's cheeks blushed an even brighter red.

"Wha- Hey! Didn't you have something important to tell us?!" Brett demanded. Brittni couldn't help but stifle a chuckle. She then turned her attention to Entrapta.

"Dryl is your home?" Brittni inquired.

"Sure is!" Entrapta beamed, then added, "by the way, my name's Entrapta!" Entrapta said smiling and holding her hand out as though for Brittni to shake it. Brittni switched glances between Entrapta's hand and her peppy countenance. Playing along, Brittni held out her hand and pretended to shake hands with Entrapta. This actually amused Brittni, and both girls giggled.

"Anyway," Brittni continued, "We got word that Night Moon's next attack is going to be at, and we need to fortify its defenses." Brittni explained. Entrapta's joyful countenance suddenly turned into a frown.

"They're going to attack my home…?" Entrapta inquired. Brittni nodded.

"If it means saving Entrapta's home, we'll do it," Brett said, determined. Entrapta looked at Brett and smiled, gratefully.

"Thank you, Brett…" Entrapta said, more serious than she'd ever sounded before. Brett nodded then turned back to Brittni.

"I'll requisition a contingent of men and grab a transport. Then we can pick you up and head to Dryl. Sound good?" Brett inquired. Brittni nodded.

"Sounds great. Thanks, Brett." Brittni said, she then added, "I'm sending you the coordinates.

"Be safe, Brittni," Brett advised.

"Of course! Good to meet you Entrapta!" Brittni said.

"You, too!" Entrapta said. And with that, the transmission shut off. Brett let out an elongated sigh.

"Yeesh, there's just no breaks around here…" Brett said, turning to Entrapta. He then added, "sorry, that the moment was kind of ruin-" Brett began before being interrupted by lips being pressed against his. Entrapta had used her hair to wrap around him and pull him close, passionately kissing him. For a brief moment, he was shocked, but soon the warm pleasure that came from Entrapta's kiss filled his bosom with a burning aura that made him feel like he had just won the lottery. The two passionately kissed for only a few seconds, but those few seconds were some of the best that either had felt before.

When the two finally broke apart, the warmth continued to remain both in their lips and their diaphragms. The two stared at each other and began chuckling almost nervously.

"That was…" Entrapta began.

"...Fascinating?" Brett finished. Entrapta giggled and leaped onto Brett and-

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;)

_Meanwhile, back at Elberon…_

The city was completely conquered at this point. Anyone loyal to the Horde either died or managed to escape. Glimmer waltzed around the town and gazed in awe at the destruction that had been sewn across the city. There was still a great deal of buildings that were untouched by the attack, so rebuilding would not be too extensive.

It was not that long ago that she was in the reverse position, trying to defend the town. Now that she was able to retake it, she felt nothing but pride and satisfaction. Void had just exited the communications center and saw Glimmer coming up the road with some Night Moon soldiers behind her.

"Ah, Glimmer, I trust that you were able to handle the rest of the Horde and Rebel soldiers?" Void inquired. Glimmer glared at her in response.

"I did just fine… without your help." Glimmer snapped. Void folded her arms and stared at Glimmer through her mask.

"That's good because I won't always be there to help you. I'm glad you're able to handle yourself." Void remarked. Glimmer let out a scoff.

"Never mind. Where did you go anyway?" Glimmer demanded.

"I was merely making sure that the Horde was not allowed to send a distress call to any local outposts. After all, we don't want the Horde attempting to take back Elberon so quickly, now do we?" Void explained. Glimmer let out a low groan but then slowly nodded her head.

"Right. Well, I'm just glad we retook this place. The Horde's left us a good amount of resources and weapons. We should be able to defend this place." Glimmer surmised as she looked around at the landscape. Void smirked under her mask.

"Indeed…" Void began walking over to Glimmer and putting her hand on her shoulder. Void's tone then became more serious, "now, it's still a bit early to celebrate. We need to gather all the resources we need and get back underground. Although you did supplement my army with your followers, we still don't have the manpower to remain in control of Elberon for long." Void explained. Glimmer pulled her shoulder away from Void and scoffed angrily.

"What? We're not going to stay?! We put in all that work for nothing?!" Glimmer demanded.

"Not nothing, dear. You managed to slake your thirst for revenge, didn't you?" Void challenged. Glimmer shuddered for a moment then slowly nodded. Void continued, "not just that, but we also managed to strike a major blow to the Horde, steal their weapons, armor, food, medicine. This is definitely a major victory." Void declared. Glimmer looked down and let out a groan.

"All that's true… but I still feel we should stay here." Glimmer replied. Void let out a sigh to the chagrin of Glimmer. Glimmer then thought of an idea: "wait, you said that we don't have the manpower to hold Elberon, right?" Glimmer inquired.

"Not right now… but did you have something in mind?" Void inquired. Glimmer grinned devilishly.

"The Kingdom of Snows…"


	31. Chapter 31: Unexpected Alliances

Chapter 31: Unexpected Alliances

After Brett and Entrapta had their… intimate time, Brett gathered his contingent of soldiers and requisitioned an armored personnel carrier to go pick up Brittni and company; (Although Brett had no clue who was with Brittni.) The APC; as it was referred to, was an armored, hovering craft that could fit around thirty to forty people in it. Atop the carrier was a machine laser that was used for crowd control and suppressive fire. Unfortunately, Brett was not able to have Catra on the mission as she was still on her way gathering the First One's tech that Entrapta spoke of. Catra was notified, however, and she messaged back, saying that she would make her way to Dryl once she had gathered the tech she set out to find. Scorpia also had other orders along with Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio, so he was unable to bring them along.

It was a mostly smooth ride over to Elberon. However, once the transport arrived within three hundred meters from Elberon, everyone aboard the transport gazed in horror at the black smoke and fire that was rising from the various parts of the city. Brett opened the hatch that led to the roof of the transport and popped his head out.

"Dear Lord…" Brett muttered as he gazed at the dark horizon, "Brittni wasn't kidding…" He then went back down into the carrier and addressed everyone, "okay, whoever these people are, they really messed this place up. According to my sister, they're not the Rebellion, but some other insurrectional group. Apparently, they're hostile to both the Rebellion and the Horde, so stay frosty." Brett said.

"Hey, let's just let them and the Rebels fight it out!" A soldier declared. A cheer went out amongst the soldiers. Brett could not help but let out a low chuckle.

"As much as I'd like that, I don't think it's going to be that simple…" Brett muttered. He then turned to the pilot and added, "Helmsman, can you get this puppy through the forest? I want to avoid any firefights until we get to Dryl." Brett inquired. The helmsman nodded and drove into the forest. The carrier then made its way towards the coordinates that Brittni had set. Sure enough, after wading through the forest, the APC found a path that led to an open space surrounded by a grove of trees. The helmsman started seeing a few figures in the middle of the grove. The white armor was a dead giveaway of Brittni, but the two other figures surprised the helmsman. He squinted his eyes and was shocked to see that one of them was Adora.

"Uh, sir? You're gonna want to see this." The helmsman motioned for Brett. Brett went into the cab and squinted his eyes. Although his eyes squinted for a moment to see the figure, they suddenly widened and curved into a glare once he figured out what company Brittni was with…

Once Brittni saw the APC, she gasped in delight. Adora and Bow, on the other hand, were not so enthusiastic. The APC stopped around ten meters away from the group. Brittni ran at it, waving her hand.

"Hey! It's me, Brittni!" The Observer Twin declared. The APC shined a light at Brittni, illuminating her and everything behind her. She shielded her eyes and grunted in confusion. Then the Horde soldier manning the machine gun laser audibly racked the magazine of the weapon and focused the barrel on Adora and Bow. Brittni stopped dead in her tracks and raised both her hands in protest.

"Whoa, whoa! What are you doing?!" Brittni demanded. Just then, a side door from the APC flew open, slamming the dirt ground and forming a ramp. A moment later, Brett marched out in his dark blue, tech armor. Brittni gasped as Brett turned towards her and folded his arms.

"Brett!" Brittni shouted.

"Brittni… it's great to see you. Now come here and board the APC. We'll take care of them." Brett ordered.

"Wait, hold on. Brett, you don't understand. We need them!" Brittni shouted. Bow and Adora switched glances between each other and Brittni. They both then slowly reached for their weapons.

"We need them? Sure, we need them- six feet underground." Brett sneered. Brittni growled.

"Would you put aside your hatred for one minute and just listen to me?!" Brittni snapped.

"Listen to you? Brittni, you've been telling tall tales about some magical being that can tell the future. You've been questioning the Horde motives. You-" Brett snapped back until being interrupted by Brittni.

"Stop it, Brett! Just- stop it!" Brittni yelled, pointing at him, "there is so much you need to be told. But it's going to fall on deaf ears unless you open your mind a little!" Brittni snapped. Brett shuddered while gritting his teeth.

"Brittni. We're taking those two into custody. Now either help us or get out of the way." Brett commanded. Brittni glared at him, squared up her body, and ignited her energy baton. Brett narrowed his eyes at her.

"You can't be serious," Brett said, unbelievably.

"If you mean to harm them, then yes," Brittni said, matter-of-factly.

"Don't make me do this, Brittni," Brett said, taking a few steps towards her and igniting his energy baton.

"You're doing this all your own," Brittni muttered.

Brett, in a blind fit of rage, rushed at Brittni with his baton ignited, and she did the same. The twins' energy batons clashed with each other. Brett pulled his baton back and swung towards the left side of Brittni's neck. She easily saw that coming and parried it with her left hand facing outward. She then counterattacked with the baton in her right hand aimed at Brett's oblique. Just as easily, he stopped her baton with his left hand. The two would continue going back and forth attempting to strike each other with their batons. Because of their intrinsic gifts of observation, both were easily able to keep predicting their next moves. It was as though it were a game of chess and each person was trying to be two steps ahead. Brett, not wanting to actually harm Brittni, went to sweep her legs. As she jumped, she raised her foot and managed to kick Brett in the chestplate, causing him to fly back. At the same time, Brett knew that Brittni was going to go for a kick. Between her armor plates, there was one part that was unarmored right under the thigh, and Brett managed to plunge his baton into her leg. Between the inertia from kicking him and the shock from the baton, Brittni also flew back.

So it was, both Twins fell onto their backs. Members of each faction went to their corresponding fighters. Bow and Adora to Brittni, and a few Horde soldiers to Brett. Brett jumped up quickly from the kick, while Brittni was helped up by Bow and Adora. Bow was about to aim his weapon, but Brittni, without looking, pushed it down.

"Get back…" Brittni ordered the two rebels. They obediently took several steps away. Knowing the voltage would leave her leg soon, Brittni squared up her body, awaiting Brett's attack. Brett, running at Brittni, went to strike her in the head, using both hands on his baton.

At this point, with both of their hands on their respective batons, the Twins' weapons clashed close to their faces and both were able to peer into each other's eyes. While Brett's eyes were filled with disappointment and anger, Brittni's were filled with supplication and grit. One thing the two had in common was that neither wanted to be fighting at that moment. Nevertheless, differing ideals would constrain the two ever-loving, ever-loyal twins to battle.

...That is until a mother intervened.

A bright ray of fluorescence began emitting from Brittni's necklace. Brett grunted loudly as he was blinded for a moment by the illumination. He shielded his eyes and tried to look past the light. The two broke away from their fighting, and Brett took a few steps back. He gasped at what he saw next. A magical hologram appeared which caused Brett to jump back several feet. Both parties, the Horde and Rebellion, gazed in shock and awe at what had just transpired. Out of the hologram appeared a resplendent, tall, blue woman…

Oracle.

Brett shuddered and gasped at what he was seeing. Oracle was standing off of her chair and looked at Brittni, then at Brett. Oracle folded her arms and narrowed her eyes in severe contrition. Oracle motioned for Brittni to join Brett so she could speak to the both of them, simultaneously. Brittni moved over to Brett and turned to Oracle. Brittni saw a look on Oracle's face that she thought she'd never see:

Disappointment.

"In all my years of seeing myriads of futures and pasts of various worlds, never have I seen something that would give me this amount of heartache and frustration…" Oracle said, placing her hand on her head and shaking it. She let out a sigh and continued, "I have watched both of you your entire lives. I have seen nothing but affection, loyalty, unity, and love. So understand that being forced to witness the two of you fight; not only verbally, but actually trying to physically harm one another, severely breaks my heart." Oracle said, somberly as a few tears strewed down her face.

"You're right… Sorry, Mom." Brittni said rubbing her shoulder in shame. Brett's eyes widened at Brittni then at Oracle.

"Mom?!" Brett exasperated. He then turned to Brittni, "you think this… person is our mother?!" Brittni glared at Brett.

"She _is _our mother, Brett!" Brittni snapped.

"How could you say that? How could this even be possible?!" Brett snapped back. Oracle's hologram moved between the two of them.

"Please, both of you. Stop fighting." Oracle pleaded. She then turned to Brittni and added, "Brittni, this is a sudden revelation to Brett. Let me handle this." Brittni shuddered for a moment, then slowly nodded her head and backed away. Oracle then turned to Brett and gave him a slight smile. Brett glared at her in return.

"I'm not sure what kind of brainwashing you did to my sister, but you're not taking her away from me or the Horde." Brett sneered. Oracle let out a sigh.

"You know, suspicion has always been one of your strengths. It's one of the reasons you've been able to climb the ranks of the Horde military. Infiltration Saboteur? What a promotion." Oracle said, proudly. Brett shuddered and took a couple of steps back.

"Brett, please listen. At the moment, you don't need to accept whether or not that I am your mother. Right now, time is of the essence, and all of you need to get to Dryl. As we speak, Night Moon is preparing their attack. Tomorrow they will be coordinating with the Kingdom of Snows, and their two joined forces will lay their siege." Oracle explained.

"Why should we believe you?" Brett demanded. Brittni sighed.

"Brett… it's true. There is so much that I have to tell you about Oracle, the Rebellion, Night Moon… and an organization that threatens the entire world." Brittni pleaded. Brett folded his arms and looked away. Brittni then walked up to Brett and put her hands in his. The two locked eyes for a few moments.

What Brett did not want to admit is that he could feel the conviction that rang through the voices of both Brittni and Oracle. Because of his predetermined philosophies and beliefs, however, his emotions were superseding his logic. He did not want to believe that they were telling the truth. Oracle could perceive his thoughts and posed a question.

"Brett, I know that your dedication to the Horde is absolute. I know how much you hate magic, and how much you hate the Rebellion. But please, trust me when I say that there is a threat coming that will destroy all of Etheria if we don't all work together. If even a small chance of what I'm saying is true, would you take it?" Oracle challenged. Brett grumbled under his breath and pulled his hands away from Brittni.

Entrapta then exited the APC and used her hair as legs to march up to Oracle. She was so stunned by Oracle's majesty that it took her awhile to regain her composure and confront the situation.

"Wow! A hologram! How fascinating!" Entrapta bubbled. Oracle chuckled upon seeing Entrapta. Adora and Bow widened their eyes as far as they could go.

"Entrapta?! You're alive!" Bow shouted, starting to walk towards her. The soldier manning the machine gun laser aimed at Bow, causing Bow to cease his movement.

"Well, of course, I'm alive!" Entrapta said, joyfully.

"Entrapta… We thought… did the Horde capture you?!" Adora inquired.

"She stayed after you abandoned her!" Brett snapped. Adora and Bow glared at Brett while Brittni looked around confused. Oracle spoke up.

"Please, we need to stay focused... Entrapta. It's good to see you in… well, kind of person. I saw that you never actually destroyed that First One's data crystal." Oracle said, matter-of-factly. Entrapta's eyes widened.

"Wow! You know about that? Did you have a spy bot stalking me or something? Tell me everything!" Entrapta pleaded. Brett and Brittni switched glances at each other. Adora and Bow did as well.

"Man, she really does see everything…" Adora muttered to Bow. Oracle chuckled again.

"Entrapta, you have the most brilliant mind in all of Etheria. Your hunger for curiosity has never been satisfied. That's your greatest strength… but also your greatest weakness. You never give up, but sometimes, some things just need to be left alone. That being said, when you get to Dryl, you need to destroy the crystal. Will you do that?" Oracle inquired. Entrapta blinked a few times.

"But… the experiment…" Entrapta protested.

"Entrapta!" Adora yelled walking towards her. Brett brandished his energy baton to the chagrin of Adora. Adora stopped her pace but continued, "Entrapta, believe me when I say I'm incredibly happy to see you… but, Oracle's right. Don't you remember what that crystal did to me?" Adora challenged. Entrapta bit her bottom lip.

"But… but…" Entrapta stammered. She then let out a childish groan then nodded her head, "okay, okay. I'll destroy the crystal." Adora let out a reassured sigh.

"Thank you…" Adora said, gratefully, then continued, "okay, well, if what Oracle said is true, we need to get to Dryl soon." Adora said. Brett scoffed dramatically.

"Excuse me? Hold on, nobody said that you and arrow boy over there are going anywhere; much less in our vehicle!" Brett sneered. Entrapta moved to Brett and put her hand on his shoulders. She said nothing but looked at him with supplication. Brett had only seen Entrapta get serious about her kingdom,, and he could tell at this moment, that she really wanted him to cooperate with everyone else. Brett let out a low groan and then sighed. He then turned his head to Entrapta and slowly nodded.

"Fine. Everybody climb in." Brett said, reluctantly. Oracle turned to him and smiled.

"Thank you, son," Oracle said, gratefully. The moment that the word 'son' rang in Brett's ears, he shuddered as though he had been stabbed in the heart. For some reason, once he heard that, he seemed to feel some kind of… connection with Oracle. Nevertheless, he shook his head and resisted the thoughts and feelings that were swirling through him. To emphasize his resistance, he added, "but we're going to hold on to your weapons while we're en route. That's not going to be a problem, is it?" Brett derided. Although Adora and Bow were very reluctant to give up their weapons, they looked at Oracle who merely nodded. Hearkening to the wisdom of Oracle, they agreed. Adora and Bow surrendered their weapons to a Horde soldier who stowed them in the rear hatch. They then boarded.

"Well, I must take my leave. There is a Horde soldier that is making her way to my home with valuable information as we speak. I must get her in my home quickly and then I can relay the information to the rest of you." Oracle explained. She then gave them a few more pieces of instruction then ended the transmission. The hologram then slowly faded and the necklace that Brittni was wearing, darkened. Entrapta then boarded the APC and Brittni followed, but not before Brett put his hand on her shoulder. Brittni looked back at Brett, glared at him, then jerked her shoulder away from him.

"Brittni, wait…" Brett beseeched.

"What, Brett? Do you want to scold me again? Tell me how everything I'm thinking is wrong and useless?" Brittni snapped.

"That's not… I didn't-" Brett started to say before being interrupted by Brittni again.

"Or maybe you want to stick me with your energy baton? Huh? You were ready to do whatever it takes to harm Adora and Bow. Believe me, Brett, I've been just as angry- if not more angry at Adora than you ever were. But guess what? I forgave her. We've settled things. We're all fighting a war that's been filled with moral ambiguities. None of us seem to know what's right and what's wrong, except Oracle." Brittni said as her breathing became more pronounced. Brett narrowed his eyes at Brittni but could see that arguing would get neither of them anywhere. He scratched the back of his head and let out a deep sigh.

"Okay, yeah. You're right, I'm sorry for attacking you. I… I just wasn't thinking straight. But you have to understand my perspective. We've been conditioned and trained our whole lives to hate the Rebellion and traitors… meaning Adora. That's not something that just changes overnight." Brett explained. Brittni went up to Brett and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Believe me, Brett, I get it. I really do understand. I'm just asking you to trust me. You don't have to trust Adora, Bow, or even Oracle right now. But please, trust me. Everything Oracle has told me has come true. The attack on Elberon, Glimmer's transformation, Night Moon becoming a threat. All of it. There's something big coming to attack Etheria, and Oracle is the key to stopping it." Brittni explained. Brett cocked his eyebrow as he did not understand what Brittni meant by Glimmer's transformation. Regardless, he could hear the sincerity in her voice. He let out another sigh, gritted his teeth and slowly nodded.

"Okay… Alright, let's get to Dryl and see if this… Oracle can really see the future." Brett said. Brittni smiled in response.

"Thank you, Brett," Brittni said gratefully as she wrapped Brett in a hug. He hugged back and patted the back of her head.

"Alright, squirt, let's do this!" Brett declared as he ran into the APC. Brittni walked into the APC but took a look back in the forest for a moment and let out a sigh.

"Here goes nothing…"

_Several hours before Brett made it to Brittni, Void, Glimmer, and a small group of Night Moon soldiers were en route to the Kingdom of Snows… _

In the haste of evacuation that the Horde went through, they left behind many technological marvels. One of them was a jet that could match the speed of sound. Void and Glimmer, along with a handful of Night Moon soldiers acquired the jet and used it to travel to the Kingdom of Snows. The majority of Night Moon remained in Elberon to scavenge the town for resources, while the rest went back to their main bunker to lock it down. On their way to the Kingdom of Snows, Void inquired to Glimmer about Frosta.

"Well…" Glimmer began, "I have to admit that she's… well, she's an almost twelve year old girl." Glimmer admitted as she leaned back in the chair in the passenger hold. Void, sitting across from Glimmer folded her arms and narrowed her eyes.

"This is the alliance you've appealed for? A group of polar bear lovers ran by a little brat?" Void challenged. Glimmer shook her head.

"Look, I wouldn't have suggested her if I didn't have faith in her abilities… When the Horde sabotaged Princess Prom with heat bombs, she was able to hold the Ice Palace together right after being stabbed with a chainsaw." Glimmer explained. Void rubbed her chin and grinned.

"Well, that's slightly reassuring." Void miffed.

"Yeah, and especially now that the Horde attacked her kingdom, I guarantee she's going to be out for blood. If we explain our intentions, I guarantee she'll join up." Glimmer said assuringly. Void nodded.

"I certainly hope so…"

_A few hours later… _

Just as it was in Princess Prom, the Jet made a landing on the landing pad near the Ice Palace. However, the Ice Palace looked as though it were under construction, still recovering from the Horde's attack. Although Frosta managed to keep the palace from crumbling, there was still a great deal of damage that it suffered.

Once the group landed and began exiting the jet, they received a less than warm welcome from a group of guards running up to the platform, pointing their spears at the group. Void reached for the sword on her back but Glimmer gently pushed her hand down. Glimmer then took a few steps towards the guards who took her advance as a threat.

"Halt! State your business, outsiders!" The guard in front commanded. Glimmer gave the courtesy bow as per the regulation of Princess Prom etiquette to reveal her familiarity of the kingdom. The guards switched glances between each other then to Glimmer. They then stood their spears up and the front guard continued, "I see… a princess. What brings you to the Kingdom of Snows; Princess…?"

"Glimmer." Glimmer said, "but, I'm not a princess… not anymore anyway." Glimmer said, looking away. The guards looked at each other confused. Glimmer then looked back at them and changed the subject, "never mind. I'm here to see Princess Frosta." The front guard scoffed.

"Is that so? And for what purpose?" The front guard demanded. Glimmer was letting the energy of the black garnet fuel her impatience, the sclera in her eyes turning black.

"Listen, you little rent-a-cop, you take me to Frosta right now, or-" Glimmer snapped before Void took a step forward, putting her hand on Glimmer's shoulder. Glimmer growled at this advance, but Void ignored her.

"Please forgive the impatience of my niece… if you could imagine, we're all under quite a bit of duress. We simply have an offer for Her Highness that would be mutually beneficial for our organization as well as the Kingdom of Snows." Void explained.

The guards began talking quietly amongst themselves until the front guard turned back to them.

"Very well, we will take you to Princess Frosta, but you must surrender any weapons you have." The front guard ordered. Void let out an annoyed sigh, but nonetheless, acquiesced. The Night Moons were then escorted to Princess Frosta's chambers.

As the group walked to the throne room, they passed by the main chamber that held Princess Prom. A surge of flashbacks began storming through Glimmer's mind.

"_Glimmer, I'm allowed to hang out with other people!" _A thought of Bow came into her mind.

"_I got into a fight with Bow, and I don't know where Scorpia is!" _Another thought came. As they were walking she started silently growling. Any talk that was happening around Glimmer began quieting down until it was completely inaudible to her. She then started having some kind of vision from the past. It was her and Brett fighting near the landing pad...

"_Do it then…" _Glimmer heard Brett say. She started growling louder. Unbeknownst to her, Void took notice and tried to ask if she was okay.

"_You can't do it, can you?" _Glimmer shuddered as she further heard Brett in her mind. Suddenly, despite the low temperature in the Ice Palace, Glimmer started sweating.

"_You're weak."_ Once Glimmer heard that, she let out a howl of indignation and pain. Suddenly, she began snapping back to reality as Void shook her.

"Glimmer? Glimmer! What's going on?!" Void demanded. Glimmer shook her head until her mind came completely back to reality. Glimmer looked around nervously at everyone around her. The guards, Void, and the Night Moon soldiers were dumbfounded as to what they had seen. Glimmer simply took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes.

"...Bad memories. Let's go." Glimmer muttered as she pushed past the guards and continued on. Despite that bizarre behavior, the group continued until they made it into Frosta's chamber. As the guards marched inside, they knelt before Frosta and introduced the Night Moons. Void and Glimmer looked around at Frosta's chambers. It could easily have been mistaken for a child's playroom. There were toys, posters of pre-teenage idols, and other various mementos designated for pre-teenage children. Void peered closer to Glimmer.

"You're sure about this?" Void inquired as she looked around, "this room looks like it was built for a ten year old." Void muttered.

"I. Am. ELEVEN AND THREE QUARTERS!" An irritated, young voice bellowed from the end of the room. On her throne, sat Princess Frosta, seemingly recovered from her incident with Brett's chainsaw. Void peered at Glimmer through her mask and scoffed.

"Huh. You're asking for an alliance with this child? Glimmer, I really don't think-" Void began saying before a barrage of ice shot up from the ground and wrapped around Void like a snake. Void then fell to the ground, bound by the ice. Glimmer looked off to see an irate Frosta standing up from her throne, brandishing her hand at Void. Glimmer could not help but chuckle as Void struggled against her bonds.

"Well, Frosta, I'm happy to see that you're back to normal." Glimmer said, casually.

"Just who do you think you are-" Frosta began demanding until she took a closer look. Glimmer took a few more steps and Frosta could make out Glimmer's image.

"...Glimmer?" Frosta inquired, eyeing her up and down. Glimmer folded her arms and smirked.

"Miss me, Frosta?" Glimmer teased. Frosta eyed Glimmer suspiciously.

"I'm… I'm happy to see you. But… But what happened to you? You don't seem as… sparkly." Frosta said awkwardly. Glimmer scoffed.

"I was due for a new look." Glimmer said, chuckling. "But, listen, we need your help." Frosta narrowed her eyes at Glimmer then took her seat back on the throne.

"I already told you, I'm not interested in joining the Rebellion." Frosta retorted. Glimmer grinned and started walking towards Frosta. In the meantime, the Night Moon soldiers were digging Void out of the ice.

"I'm happy to hear that." Glimmer said, frankly. Frosta cocked her eyebrow in confusion. Glimmer then clarified, "because I'm not asking you to join the Rebellion. I'm no longer part of that weak faction. I've joined a new outfit called, 'Night Moon.' We are doing what the Rebellion cannot; that is, destroy the Horde" Glimmer explained. Frosta shuddered upon hearing the word 'Horde.'

"Because that went so well last time…? I nearly died when the Horde attacked, Glimmer." Frosta admitted as a few tears streamed out of her eyes. Glimmer arrived at the throne and wiped the tears from Frosta's eyes.

"That was a cheap surprise attack. If we were to take the fight to them, the scenario would end so much better. Imagine. If we destroy the Horde, you'd never have to worry about it ruining Princess Prom." Glimmer explained. Frosta looked up, suddenly interested in what Glimmer had to say.

"You could get your revenge, and celebrate with another Princess Prom!" Glimmer mused. The more Frosta thought of revenge, the more interested she became.

"I would like to get back at that Horde soldier that… that…" Frosta started shuddering. She then let out a sigh, "that split my stomach open with a chainsaw…" More tears began pouring out of her eyes. Glimmer suddenly wrapped Frosta in a hug. This act of benevolence warmed Frosta greatly; especially since her room was literally frozen over. She even began to blush. Nevertheless, Frosta remained steadfast in her protest.

"But, I just… I can't do this, I-" Frosta began before being interrupted by a rather abrupt and unanticipated move by Glimmer. Glimmer pulled Frosta towards herself and pressed her lips against Frosta. For a brief moment or two, Frosta was more shocked than anything. After those few moments, she embraced it. Glimmer knew it was strange to perform such an act, seeing as how she was several years older than Frosta, but knew that it would relax her and hopefully goad her into joining.

When Frosta pulled away, her cheeks turned a bright red, despite the cold in her kingdom. She let out a few giggles while Glimmer simply grinned at her. Void and the rest of Night Moon merely gazed at the two frenetically. Nevertheless, they were pleased with Frosta's answer to the proposition. Frosta merely chuckled and declared:  
"For you, Glimmer, anything…"

And with that, the upcoming battle for Dryl would soon commence…


	32. Chapter 32: Dryllish Traitor

Chapter 32: Dryllish Traitor

_Meanwhile, back in the APC on the way to Dryl… _

The ride to Dryl was... tense, to put it as optimistically as possible. Inside the APC, all that could be heard was the clattering of the APC trampling over the debris in the forest and the rumbling of the engine. In the passenger hold sat forty-three disquieted souls with various stages of anxiety. The passenger hold held four columns of ten seats. In the very back right corner, sat possibly the most anxious people of all: Brittni, Bow, and Adora. Five Horde soldiers did not even want to be anywhere near those three, and so gave up their seats and sat in the cargo hold. Bow simply looked down, not wanting to start any trouble. Brittni and Adora, on the other hand, were rather apparent with their frustration.

Adora had known many of the soldiers in the APC. Although she did leave the Horde, seeing their seething disapproval towards her was irritating. Brittni was the most irritated of all. Brittni was still absolutely loyal to the Horde, but at this moment she felt like she was being criminalized. Brett and Entrapta sat up in the front with the helmsman. Brittni understood why Entrapta was up there, as she was there guiding the helmsman. Brittni could tell that Brett only sat up there to keep his distance. Despite these annoying circumstances, the group of three saw the bigger picture and understood that everybody needed to cooperate in order to prevent Horde Prime from conquering Etheria.

A little while later, Entrapta pointed out her kingdom off in the distance. The kingdom was located deep in a mountainous region. It was easily distinguishable by its rather high, rocky walls. Behind the walls, various large buildings towered over the land. Once the APC made it to the gate, it was stopped by security. The soldiers of Dryl were similar to the Horde, in that they wore bodysuits and armor that covered most parts of their body. The color of their armor was brown with purple trim. In addition to human soldiers, the majority of combatants were robots that Entrapta had built. Entrapta radioed ahead, so the guards at the front were not surprised to see her arriving with a Horde entourage. The APC rumbled into the city and headed towards the main troop barracks. The soldiers were impressed by the industrious look of Dryl. Tall buildings, paved roads, robots patrolling the streets. Dryl could easily be mistaken as the Fright Zone!

Once at the barracks, everybody in the APC began filing out. The citizens roaming the streets stopped in shock and awe at the arrival of the Horde. A commotion of voices soon began pervading the air. Clearly, most of Dryl was less than excited about having Horde soldiers roaming their city. One of the citizens from the crowd, in particular, was rather vehement with his words as he saw Entrapta walk out of the APC.

"Princess Entrapta! What are _they _doing here?! Are we being subjugated under the Horde?!" The citizen demanded. Entrapta, with her bubbly personality, responded with over-optimism.

"Oh! Hi, Ted! Oh, don't worry. These are my friends. Some group called Night Moon is on their way to attack us, and my good friend, Brett is going to help defend the city. Isn't that great?!" Entrapta explained. Ted blinked his eyes a few times and growled. Another voice from the crowd shouted. Followed by many more.

"We don't need the Horde!"

"Get them out of here!"

"They're just a bunch of murderers!" The crowd shouted indistinctively. Entrapta held up her hands in protest while some of the Horde soldiers facing the crowd inched their hands towards their laser rifles. Some of the citizens started marching towards the Horde soldiers, threateningly. Right before a great deal of bloodshed was about to take place, a laser shot firing upwards was sounded, followed by voice with a distinct Rusashan accent that bellowed to the crowd.

"Citizens of Dryl, please. Is this any way to treat our guests?" A tall, decorated war officer demanded as he walked out of the barracks towards the crowd. This man was none other than General Cairus, commander of the Dryl Security Force. The man looked to be around his forties. He had a scar that was hidden underneath an eyepatch. His armor was similar to the Dryl security force armor, with more military pins to demonstrate his years of service. As he walked towards the crowd, he continued.

"Now folks, believe me, more than anyone, I understand exactly how you all feel. The Horde has committed atrocious acts. But haven't most people in this world?" Cairus inquired, "these folks have given us grave news that a terrorist group is headed to attack our kingdom. For what purpose, we do not know. However, they have the endorsement of Princess Entrapta, and that's good enough for me. Besides, these aren't just Horde soldiers. If you look further down the line, you'll see Princess Adora and Tech Master Bow, the two responsible for fixing Princess Entrapta's bots when they went haywire. If nothing else, we owe them for protecting us from the bots." The crowd started muttering amongst themselves more positively now. Cairus grinned and went to the center of the crowd.

"I say that we give them the chance to protect us once again. What do you say?" Cairus inquired. In response, the crowd started being more agreeable, and even a cheer went out throughout the crowd. After that, the crowd began dispersing and Cairus faced the Horde soldiers.

"Ah, Princess Entrapta, it is wonderful to see you," Cairus said humbly as he kneeled before her. He then turned to Brett and said, "and you must be Brett, the leader of this small army?" Cairus inquired. Brett nodded in reply.

"I am. Thanks for pacifying the crowd." Brett said as he shook Cairus' hand.

"Ah, but of course. Please understand that bitterness runs deep between Horde and non-Horde people. It would take quite a while for you to convince them you're on our side." Cairus said with a wink. Brett let out a small breath.

"Heh, well, the Fright Zone could certainly use your kingdom's technology and military power…" Brett muttered. Cairus simply smiled in return and changed the subject.

"Well! I am sure that you are all very tired after your journey. I have made shelter arrangements for your men tonight. You'll find all of your accommodations in the barracks." Cairus explained. Brett smiled and nodded.

"Well, thank you, General," Brett said. He then motioned for his troops to make their way into the barracks.

"Fantastic. Well, I need to go check on the sentries. Allow me to give you all the formal welcome to Dryl. I'm sure I'll get to meet your entire crew, but for now, I must depart. Please let us know if you need anything." Cairus said. Brett smiled and nodded. Entrapta spoke up then.

"Brett! How would you like to see my lab?" Entrapta inquired. Brett turned to her and smiled.

"It'd be my honor," Brett said as he wrapped his arm around Entrapta's arm. Despite Brittni still feeling uneasy towards Brett, she could not help but giggle upon seeing Brett's affection towards her. He turned back with reddened cheeks. Brittni then busted up laughing.

"Gee, Brett. I haven't seen you this embarrassed since you decided to try eating that snail-" Brittni started before being interrupted by Brett.

"Hey! You said you'd never bring that up again!" Brett snapped. He then groaned and turned to Entrapta, "ugh, let's go." Entrapta smiled.

"Brittni, Bow, Adora, you three are welcome in my castle!" Entrapta said.

"Thanks!" Bow said as he walked towards them. Brett groaned at this action. Brittni was about to say something as well until she heard Oracle's voice in her head.

"_Brittni, it's your mother. I don't have much time. All I can tell you right now is do NOT trust Cairus. He is not as he appears. The Crystal Ball has given me a few mixed signals, but I know there's something suspicious about him. For now, keep an eye on him." _Oracle declared.Before Brittni could respond, the voice dissipated. Adora noticed Brittni's blank expression.

"Brittni? Are you okay?" Adora inquired.

"Oh, uh… yeah. Why don't you and Bow go on ahead? I think I'm gonna check out the town for a moment and I'll meet you at the castle." Brittni said. Adora narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Brittni but then shrugged her shoulders.

"Alright, we'll see you later tonight," Adora said, running after Bow, Brett, and Entrapta. Brittni in the meantime turned towards Cairus who had made a great distance between himself and the Horde group. Ungracefully, Brittni ran after him. A few moments into the run, Cairus heard her pacing and turned towards her with a cocked eyebrow.

"Ah, if I'm not mistaken you're Brett's twin, eh? I can see the resemblance." Cairus noted. Brittni put on a fake grin and held out her hand for a handshake.

"Yeah, that's me. It's good to meet you, Cairus. I just wanted to personally thank you for calming the mob down and letting us stay here." Brittni said as sweetly as she could. Cairus let out a light chuckle and put out his hand to shake Brittni's. Once his hand made contact, the power of the Crystal Ball surged through Brittni's mind and she began seeing a vision through the perspective of Cairus.

In the vision, Cairus was speaking with a woman that was wearing a black bodysuit, purple armor pieces, and a Venetian-pierrot mask. It was Void! Brittni determined that the room that Cairus was in was some kind of communication room from all the comm equipment laying around.

"_So, this is the face of the Night Moons?" _Cairus asked in this vision. He then chuckled and added, _"Huh, or should I say, the 'mask?'" _Void folded her arms, unimpressed with his joke.

"_Humor. How indecorous of a general. I hope your tactics are more competent than your attitude." _Void said, impatiently. Cairus simply chuckled in response.

"_Don't you worry, my dear lady. Our plan will work. You help me get rid of Entrapta and take over the kingdom, and I give you the technology for the deep-range transmitter, the portal schematics, and the means to build it. In fact, I'll even throw a few soldiers your way." _Cairus revealed. He then handed a USB device to Void.

"_The plan to help you infiltrate the place and abduct Entrapta is all in these plans. I have a backup in my office. The last I spoke to Entrapta, she told me that she was being escorted back here by a contingent of Horde soldiers. I'm not sure if she means to forge an alliance with them, though…" _Cairus said. Void chuckled.

"_Is that right?" _Void inquired as she paced around the room. She then added, _"Well, we might just have to stop that alliance before it starts… Regardless, I'll get these plans back to my army. I will be seeing you after my forces capture Elberon." _Void declared.

"_Take some bots with you for your besiegement of Elberon, they'll pack a punch to your military. Call it a token of trust." _Cairus said. Void chuckled.

"_You're a smart man, Cairus. And soon, you'll be a rich ruler of a kingdom." _Void said. As soon as Void finished speaking, the vision began fading and Brittni let out a great gasp of air. Cairus narrowed his eyes at Brittni in confusion.

"I'm sorry, lass… did I do something wrong?" Cairus inquired in suspicion. Brittni shook her head.

"Oh, uh, no, sorry. I'm just so astounded by the city. This place really reminds me of the Fright Zone. I just love the industriousness of it." Brittni said, grinning. Cairus cocked his eyebrow and pulled back his hand.

"Erm, right. At any rate, I need to get back to work, but please enjoy all that Dryl has to offer." Cairus said as he walked away. Once he was away, Brittni let out another breath of air and muttered under her breath:

"If Dryl's offering everything you said in that vision, I don't want it…" Brittni muttered. She was about to start following Cairus when all of a sudden she felt a hand grab her shoulder. She gasped and looked back, readying a fist to punch. The hand that grabbed her shoulder turned out to be Adora.

"Whoa, hey! I thought you didn't want to hit me anymore?!" Adora protested. Brittni let her hand down and sighed.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Brittni snapped. Adora rubbed her shoulder.

"S...Sorry. I just wanted to see if you're okay. What's going on?" Adora inquired. Brittni sighed and pulled her into an alleyway, then looked around to make sure nobody was following or listening to them. Adora looked at Adora confused until Brittni explained her vision to her. Adora gasped and bit her lower lip as she listened.

"Shoot… well, we can't just accuse him." Adora said. Brittni nodded.

"Right, we need proof. And according to the vision, that proof is in his desk. We're going to have to infiltrate his office and grab it." Brittni explained.

"How are we going to do that? We don't even know where his office is!" Adora protested. Brittni simply winked at her.

"Hey, I'm one of the Observer Twins, remember?" Brittni gently reminded her. Adora let out a sigh.

"Alright, let's do it."

Brittni and Adora had surreptitiously followed Cairus as he made his way to his office. Keeping their distance, and inconspicuously hiding behind buildings and other doodads, they were able to stay off of his radar. Cairus' office was located in what looked to be a communications center of some sort, as it had a rather large radar dish and radio tower erected atop it. As Cairus went up to the door, he pressed some buttons on a keypad next to it. Brittni and Adora were hiding behind a rather large dumpster around twenty feet away. Brittni peered out and studied Cairus' finger movements and grinned. Once Cairus finished punching in the code, the door slid open and he entered. Brittni and Adora waited a couple of minutes before making their move but eventually moved to the door. Brittni chuckled as she entered the code in rather simply. Adora eyed Brittni with adoration.

"I swear, I have no idea how you're able to observe things so accurately," Adora muttered. Brittni finished punching in the code, turned to Adora and smiled.

"That's what happens when you're the daughter of a magical being," Brittni said as she winked. Once the door slid open, Adora and Brittni quietly walked in. In the front room, there didn't seem to be any guards or receptionists. After all, it was getting late in the night. The two could see a few doors but were unsure of where to go. Brittni knelt down and gazed at the floor intently. She took off her glove and felt the ground. She could feel the rubber of a boot that had been just placed there, as it had not yet coalesced with any other substance on the ground.

"He went this way, " Brittni said, matter-of-factly as she put her glove back on. Adora cocked her eyebrow and shook her head.

"I still wish I could be as perceptive as you are," Adora said as she walked towards the door. Cautiously, the two approached the door and opened it as slowly as possible. Once they looked inside, they could see a dimly lit hallway with doors streaming down both sides. Brittni and Adora carefully crept down the hall. Brittni continued to follow the seemingly invisible footprints until they lead the two to a door at the end of the hall.

"We can't just walk in." Adora cautioned in a whisper. Brittni nodded.

"I know. Let's go in here for a minute and wait for him to come out." Brittni said as she turned the handle of the door opposite Cairus' office. The two girls walked in and found themselves in a very familiar room. As Brittni observed its surroundings, she realized where they were.

"Adora, this is the room that I saw in my vision!" Brittni whispered excitedly. Adora looked around in awe. Brittni looked around and found a terminal. She decided to open it up to pass the time a little. In it, she found transmissions from Void! Hastily, Brittni clicked on the most recent transmission. Although, some of it seemed to be encrypted:

"_...Void, so you're telling me that you're actually from-" [ERROR] _

"_Indeed, I am- [ERROR]...All I can assure you is that he is coming, Cairus. And when he does, I'll make sure that you and your people are spared…"_

"_So, that's why you need the portal technology?"_

"_Indeed. Soon, my father, H- [ERROR] -me will be here."_

"_...I look forward to it…" _

After the transmission, the two girls shuddered upon what they were hearing. They both switched glances between each other and the terminal that played the transmission. In the desk that was supporting the terminal, Brittni found a USB drive. Without much thought, Brittni plugged the drive into the terminal and downloaded all of the transmissions that involved Void.

"I'm gonna review these later. For right now, we need to get Cairus out of his office…" Brittni muttered as she put a finger to her mouth in thought. Adora thought for a moment then thought of an idea.

"Brittni, I can run to the end of the hallway and make some noise. It'll draw Cairus out of his office and you can grab what you need." Adora said confidently. Brittni smiled.

"Thanks, Adora." Brittni said, "just… be careful." Adora winked and carefully crept out of the office. She then ran to the reception area to begin her distraction. It was silent for a few moments and Brittni cocked her eyebrow, impatiently.

"C'mon, Adora, I thought you said-" Brittni started before hearing what sounded like a large metallic object falling over. Brittni then widened her eyes in surprise. She heard more clatter then heard a more close sound coming from across the room.

"What's going on here?!" A gruff, Rusashan accent bellowed out. Brittni then heard loud footsteps marching towards the end of the hall. Brittni let out a breath she had been holding and carefully opened the door. She looked down the hall and saw that Cairus had disappeared. She then quickly and quietly as possible moved to Cairus' office and started rifling through his desk. Sure enough, she found the flash drive that she had seen in the vision.

"Well… that was easy." Brittni said, suspiciously as she eyed the drive. Instead of pocketing the drive, somehow felt that she was supposed to conceal it better. From her medical bag, she retrieved a small plastic sample bag. She inserted both flash drives into the sample bag…

...and swallowed it to be retrieved later.

Although not her proudest moment, Brittni had a feeling that that questionable action might be the key to keeping Dryl safe. At any rate, Brittni had walked to the door and put her hand on the knob. Once she did, she once again felt that something was not right. She put her ear to the door and could hear rapid footsteps that belonged to at least five people marching to the door. She shuddered and looked around for an escape route. Sadly, the entire office was enclosed. She could not even find a vent. At this point, her only chance was to fight.

The footsteps got closer and closer until finally, they were at the door. Brittni pulled out her energy baton, ready to fight. Once the doorknob began jiggling, she took a few steps back and ran at the door, and laid her foot into it. Brittni's powerful kick sent the door flying into the two Dryl security guards that were trying to get in, knocking them against the wall. Cries of pain pervaded the area. From the hallway, a couple of energy blasts flew at Brittni. She ducked, then jumped back into the room. The guards made their advance on her. One made it into the room, and as soon as he did, she plunged her baton into him, sending fifty thousand volts through his diaphragm.

Brittni quickly deduced that there were soldiers on opposite sides of the office door. She moved in front of the door, knowing the two were ready to attack. Aiming at her head, the two guards fired their batons, but Brittni quickly ducked, which caused their electroshocks to shoot each other instead. The two guards screamed as they were incapacitated and slumped to the floor. Not wanting to waste any more time, Brittni ran down the hall, looking for Adora.

"Adora? Adora!" Brittni called out.

"Looking for someone?" Cairus called out. Adora looked to her right to see Cairus holding Adora hostage with his baton aimed at her neck. Behind him, was a contingent of Dryl guards. Brittni then looked to her left and saw more guards, as well as some Horde soldiers. Brittni shuddered at the situation she found herself in. Before she could say anything more, one of the Dryl guards marched up to her and stuck an energy baton into her oblique, incapacitating her…

_Brittni later awoke in a Dryllish prison cell alongside Adora…_

Brittni woke up dazed in a darkened, concrete room surrounded by iron bars. She rubbed her head as she sat up from the bed she was in.

"Brittni? Brittni! You're awake!" A very familiar voice said to Brittni. Brittni sat up and looked over at the adjacent cell and found Adora clutching the bars looking distraught.

"Adora!" Brittni yelled as she stood up and ran over to Adora. The two girls attempted as best they could to hug through the bars. When they pulled away, Brittni inquired as to what happened. Adora explained that after the Dryllish guards incapacitated the two of them, they brought them here and stripped them of their weapons and armor.

"... They were pretty rough, but at least we're alive." Adora muttered. She then lowered her voice to a whisper and asked, "did they take the flash drives from you?" Brittni suddenly understood while she felt such a strong premonition to thoroughly hide the flash drives she stole.

"No, I managed to hide them... But, you're gonna want to look away when I retrieve them." Brittni cautioned. Adora cocked her eyebrow before widening her eyes, realizing what Brittni did.

"Brittni, you didn't…" Adora said.

"It worked, didn't it?!" Brittni snapped. Before Adora could respond, the two heard a large metal door open. Right after the noise, two pairs of footsteps came down the staircase. Once the two people were illuminated by the dim light of the dungeon, Brittni let out a gasp. It was Cairus and Brett.

"Brett!" Brittni yelled, "get us out of here!" Brett simply shook his head as he marched up to the bars.

"Brittni, General Cairus tells me that you broke into his office and assaulted five of his men. Is that true?" Brett inquired. Brittni switched glances between Brett and Cairus.

"Well… I mean, yes. But I have a good reason! Cairus is trying to overthrow Dryl!" Brittni pleaded. Brett narrowed his eyes at Brittni for a moment then turned to Cairus, who simply just shook his head.

"I think the lass is confused, Brett. I have no such intention. My only desire is to keep Dryl protected at all costs." Cairus explained. Brittni glared at him.

"You liar! I overheard your little plan with Void! You're going to try and have Entrapta assassinated so you can rule Dryl yourself! That and be spared by whoever Void is working for!" Brittni accused. Cairus' countenance shifted from smug and confident to nervous. He coughed a little bit and chuckled to hide his nerve.

"I, uh… sorry? You believe that I'm trying to assassinate the princess? And I'm working with… what did you say? A black hole?" Cairus inquired as calmly as he could. He then turned to Brett, "listen, lad. I do have respect for you for keeping our princess safe, but an action like this is starting to make me wonder if letting you in was the best idea." Cairus said severely. Brett held up his hands in protest.

"I understand. I apologize for my sister and… the rebel. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again." Brett said. Cairus grunted.

"You're right, it won't happen again because we're going to keep these two in here until you and your soldiers depart," Cairus explained. Brett groaned and Cairus continued, "the safety of Dryl is my primary concern, soldier. I'm just doing my duty." Brett nodded.

"I understand, General. I'll leave them to your judgment." Brett said, reluctantly. He looked to Brittni who gave him a rather shocked and distraught look. He sighed then added, "General, can I talk to these two alone for a minute?" Cairus scoffed.

"Eh… I suppose so. I need to get back to watch and make sure that my men aren't seriously injured." Cairus said with a sneer as he headed upstairs. Brett made sure that Cairus was gone and turned his head back to the two inmates and folded his arms.

"Don't tell me. Oracle told you all this." Brett said, sarcastically. Brittni ran up to the iron bars that separated the two twins and gripped them tightly.

"Brett, you have to listen to me. Everything I said is true. I actually have proof!" Brittni exclaimed. Brett cocked his eyebrow.

"Proof? That's refreshing. Alright, where's this proof?" Brett demanded. Brittni held open her mouth to speak, but stopped and put on an embarrassed expression as she scratched the back of her neck. Brett narrowed his eyes on her, "Brittni…?" Not wanting to repeat the words out loud Brittni whispered in Brett's ear.

"Blegh! Seriously, Brittni?!" Brett snapped.

"It worked, okay! If I didn't do that, they would have confiscated the evidence!" Brittni protested. Suddenly, the two were shushed by Adora.

"Geez, do you two want all of Dryl to know what's going on?!" Adora snapped. Brett let out a sigh and rubbed his head. Brittni in the meanwhile had told everyone to look away while she… retrieved the drives. After washing the bag; (and her hands!) she handed the drives over to Brett.

"Alright, say that what you're saying is true. What can we do? It's forty-five soldiers against all of Dryl." Brett explained.

"For right now, just keep your eye on Entrapta… Get somewhere safe and look at those drives. She has every bot under her command, she can stop an uprising before it even starts." Brett nodded.

"Just one thing after another, huh, Britt Britt?" Brett inquired. Brittni chuckled. Brett had not called her that pet name in such a long time. He then added, "alright, I'm gonna go check on Entrapta and those drives. I'll be back for you both." He said as he walked away.

"Be safe…" He muttered. A few minutes after Brett had left, a few Dryllish security guards that were armed to the teeth walked in. Two of them aimed their laser rifles at Adora while one opened her cell, handcuffed her, and began pulling her away.

"What?! What are you doing?! Brittni!" Adora called out.

"Where are you taking her?!" Brittni demanded. One of the soldiers aimed his rifle at Brittni.

"It'd be best if you keep your mouth shut. Your little friend here wants to be seen by the General." The soldier sneered.

"Adora!" Brittni yelled to no avail as she shook the iron bars. A moment later, the guards had taken Adora out of the prison, and just like that, Brittni was alone in the cell…

_Meanwhile, as Adora was taken to a mysterious destination… _

Adora had been blindfolded and gagged on her trip to see General Cairus. She was frantically considering what was in store for her. Eventually, the guards dropped her off in a chair in an undisclosed building. As Adora struggled against her bonds, she heard a familiar voice.

"So, you've managed to subdue the mighty She-Ra. Well done, Cairus." The voice said.

"Call it a bonus for your service to Dryl and its people, milady," Cairus responded. Adora then heard footsteps moving closer to her. She then felt a gloved hand brush her cheek.

"Good to see you… Adora…" An incredibly familiar voice said. Adora's words were muffled through the gag but she managed to say something discernable:

"'Limmow?" (Glimmer?) Adora inquired. A moment later, Adora's blindfold was removed. Sure enough, it was Glimmer grinning devilishly at Adora. Now, Adora was generally unafraid of anything that crossed her path but seeing her former friend in league with a terrorist group caused her to shudder frantically. She was also reminded of when Glimmer utterly destroyed Shadow Weaver. For that memory, Adora would never fully recover. Glimmer then untied the gag in Adora's mouth.

"Glimmer! What is going on? What are you doing here?!" Adora demanded. Glimmer folded her arms and chuckled in reply.

"Just making one more move against the Horde. There's technology here that we need, and we're gonna use it." Glimmer said.

"If you're fighting against the Horde, why are you attacking Dryl?! Entrapta's apart of the Rebellion!" Adora snapped. Glimmer scoffed.

"I already told you. I'm done with the Rebellion. Turns out that Cairus over here is going to give us everything that we need to further our plans in destroying the Horde." Glimmer explained. Adora growled in response to the chagrin of Glimmer.

"You're hurting innocent people. Are you seriously planning to assassinate Entrapta?! For what?! She probably would have just given you the tech you need!" Adora snapped. Glimmer then put her hand on Adora's shoulder and continued:

"It's not that simple. Entrapta is really possessive of her technology… After all, you know she never got rid of that data crystal." Glimmer explained. Adora gasped upon hearing that.

"How… how did you know that she didn't destroy the crystal?" Adora inquired.

Void then stepped beside Glimmer and waved the crystal around. Adora gasped and started struggling harder against her bonds. Void switched her gaze from Adora to Cairus.

"So, General, you really say that this data crystal that Princess Entrapta had been working with can really cause She-Ra to go berzerk?" Void inquired.

"No! Glimmer, you can't do this!" Adora said, tearing up a bit.

"Don't you see, Adora? This is one little sacrifice in order to defeat the Horde." Glimmer explained. Adora grumbled and looked away. Glimmer then continued, "we don't have to be enemies, Adora. Join us! We can beat the Horde this way!" Glimmer explained.

"Glimmer, you and your people are using terrorist actions to get your way. You're becoming no better than the Horde!" Adora snapped.

The moment Glimmer heard Adora claiming her similarity to the Horde, her breathing became more pronounced and her grip on Adora's shoulder squeezed harder. Glimmer then stood up and growled. She re-gagged Adora and scoffed.

"I guess you're against us… Let's see what She-Ra's really capable of." Glimmer said as she took the crystal out of Cairus' hand went to touch Adora with it…


	33. Chapter 33: Battle For Dryl

Chapter 33: Battle For Dryl

_Meanwhile, back at Entrapta's Crypto Castle…_

Brett, Bow, and Entrapta were in Entrapta's lab going over Cairus's plans to usurp Entrapta's throne. It was a semi-convoluted plan, but the premise was as follows:

All Dryllish soldiers loyal to Cairus are to be marked with red armbands so that allied soldiers and combat robots can differentiate between ally and enemy.

All combat robots will be reprogrammed to acknowledge Cairus as the ruler of Dryl and as such, will eliminate all who oppose him.

After the subjugation of Dryl, the Dryl military will join forces with Night Moon against the Horde.

The three viewers of this plan were appalled by the boldness of Cairus. Entrapta, in particular, was both shocked and melancholy at this news.

"He… he's trying to take over my kingdom?" Entrapta inquired, a tear forming in her eye.

"That's not going to happen!" Brett shouted, standing up. Entrapta had her mouth open agape while Bow, still sitting in the chair, turned to Brett.

"So, what're we gonna do?" Bow inquired of Brett. Brett paced around for a few moments as he thought. He then turned to Entrapta.

"Entrapta, can you write a program that will alter the behavior of the bot's to turn against Cairus?" Brett inquired. Entrapta sniffled and wiped the tear from her eye.

"Does an RK800 android turn into a deviant when exposed to a large number of emotional stimuli?" Entrapta challenged, with a smile. Brett smiled and winked.

"It sure does," Brett said, chuckling. He then turned to Bow, "Bow, stay here with Entrapta and keep her safe. I'm going to let Brittni and Adora out of their cells. Once they're out, we need to find all the soldiers loyal to Cairus and take them out." Brett said determinedly. Bow nodded his head while Entrapta went to work developing the program. Brett then added, "also, we're going to need to make some kind of announcement. Let the citizens and the Dryllish soldiers still loyal to you know what's going on." Entrapta nodded.

"Of course! I can record one right away." Entrapta declared. Brett nodded then hurried out of the castle, avoiding the traps with ease.

"I'm coming, Brittni…"

_Meanwhile, back at Brittni's cell… _

Brittni was searching for some way; any way to get out of the cell. She looked around her cell. She analyzed the bed in the corner, then looked to the iron bars. She tapped her chin, methodically until she came up with an idea. She went over to the bed and inspected the wood. It was made from bamboo! Brittni then ripped a large piece of the cloth from the blanket and soaked it in the toilet. She then kicked off a piece of the bed. Using her newly found tools, Brittni marched over to the iron bars and wrapped the wet cloth around two bars, and inserted the piece of bamboo in between the cloth. She then started rotating the cloth.

"_C'mon, c'mon!" _Brittni thought to herself as she poured all of her strength into rotating the wood. Slowly, but surely, she heard a metallic whine, implying that the bars were beginning to bend.

"_That's it! That's it!"_ Brittni exclaimed in her mind. Finally, after one last strain on the makeshift lever, the bars bent out of place and fell forward. She could escape! As she squeezed between the bars, she looked around and found a chest. Inside the chest, she found her laser pistol, energy baton, and most importantly, her medic armor. She quickly put her armor on and holstered her weapons. A moment later, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She could tell it was only one person. She then squared her body up, ready for a fight. She had her energy baton ready, but then relaxed, when she saw who it was.

"Expecting trouble?" Brett inquired, facetiously. He then looked at the broken iron bars, "ah, the wet cloth trick? I told you it would come in handy."

"Brett! I'm glad to see you." Brittni said, loosening up her body, "did you see what was on the flash drive?" She inquired. Brett folded his arms, looked the other way, and sighed.

"Yeah… I did." Brett started. He then looked at Brittni and added, "I'm sorry I didn't believe you at first. I mean, I knew that there was something fishy about Cairus… I guess I was just blinded from trying to protect Entrapta from that terrorist group." Brett explained. He then looked back at Brittni, "but, anyway, we need to get out of here. Cairus plans on programming all the bots to kill anyone that isn't loyal to him. That includes Entrapta…" Brett said somberly. Brittni took a minute to digest what Brett just explained to her. Brett then noticed Adora's absence.

"Where's Adora?" Brett inquired. Brittni frowned and her lips quivered.

"Some of Cairus's men came and took her… I'm not sure where…" Brittni let out a groan and added, "what're we gonna do?" Brittni desperately inquired. Brett paced around a bit.

"Well, we need to warn the troops, both ours and Dryl's. Luckily, we found out that the traitor soldiers are marked with a red armband. If you see any of them, drop 'em. As for the bots, Entrapta's in the middle of programming a switch that will indicate Cairus and his guards as hostiles. Once we rally our soldiers, you can find Adora and we can take care of Cairus." Brett explained. Brittni nodded her head.

"Okay, that's convoluted, but I think we can handle that," Brittni said, chuckling.

"Good, let's move-" Brett started before he saw a figure coming down the stairs opposite the staircase he came down. Brittni turned around and they both saw a petite figure in blue clothing.

"Uh… are you lost, little girl?" Brittni inquired. The girl came into full view and Brett realized it was Frosta.

"You!" Brett accused as he pointed his finger at Frosta. Brittni switched glances between the two.

"Huh? Do you two know each other?" Brittni inquired. Brett moved forward and gently moved Brittni out of the way.

"We have some unfinished business, 'Princess.'" Brett sneered. He then turned to Brittni and said, "Brittni, go rally the troops. If Frosta's here, that means Night Moon isn't working alone. This is gonna get bad real quick." Brittni stared at Brett for a few moments, desperately, then nodded her head. She then ran up the stairs, out of the prison. Brett then turned to Frosta.

"I can't believe you're still alive…" Brett muttered. He then shook his head and asked, "what are you even doing here?" Brett demanded. The way that Brett said that he almost sounded relieved.

"You're gonna pay for what you did to Princess Prom!" Frosta threatened as she pointed her finger at him. Brett scoffed.

"That's what you want revenge for? Geez, you princesses really have to get your revenge priorities in order. But, if you insist…" Brett sneered. Just then a group of Frosta's guards poured out of the staircase behind her and brandished their spears at him.

"Apparently you don't remember what happened last time…" Brett said as he ignited his energy baton…

_Meanwhile, back with Entrapta and Bow… _

Entrapta had been getting close to creating the program that would override any alteration to the bots' original programming. Bow, in the meantime, had kept an arrow nocked in his bow, pacing around the lab. All this talk of a coup d'etat had made him edgy. Suddenly he heard a noise behind him. He immediately turned towards it and pulled his arrow back, full strength.

"Get back!" Bow shouted. However, it was only Entrapta getting up from her seat. She stared at him with widened eyes. Bow loosened the arrow and let out a large breath of air. Entrapta then pulled out her recorder.

"Coup d'etat, hour 9:30. The stress is getting to Bow." Entrapta spoke into the recorder, smiling.

"Sorry, I just-" Bow began before hearing yet another noise. Bow and Entrapta turned towards the door of the lab and heard a beep coming from it.

"Oh, wow! That sounds like a thermometric time bomb! I didn't realize anyone still- Agh!" Entrapta shouted before Bow tackled her to the ground. He then kicked over a table causing an assortment of tools and vials to fall over. Before Entrapta could protest, the thermometric bomb blew the door open, causing it to fly against the wall behind Bow and Entrapta.

Bow immediately went into action. He crouched behind the table and nocked his arrow. A Dryllish red armband soldier marched in and began firing his laser rifle. Bow managed to fire his arrow into the guard's helmet, piercing the protective glass. Two more guards ran in and started firing their rifles. Bow ducked down and nocked another arrow and waited for his opportunity. Entrapta in the meanwhile was combining some kind of chemical mixtures. Bow stuck his head up for a moment and nearly got hit by a laser, before crouching down again. Entrapta then took the chemical compound she shook up and chucked it at the two Dryllish soldiers. The soldiers looked down and screamed as the vial holding the mixture exploded, producing a cloud of smoke. Bow then thanked Entrapta and moved up, firing two more arrows, hitting the Dryllish soldiers and causing them to collapse.

"Okay, we need to go, now!" Bow shouted.

"I have an escape route in the lab!" Entrapta shouted, pointing at a vent. Bow fired an arrow at the vent as the two ran towards it. The vent opened when Bow's arrow hit it and the two jumped into the vent. More soldiers ran into the room and started firing, but missed the two as they made their way into the vent.

The vent led to a chute that flowed to the ground and allowed the two to escape out of the castle. Bow got out first and helped Entrapta up. He then looked around and choked out a breath of relief.

"We made it!" Bow cheered. His cheering was in vain, however, as he and Entrapta were suddenly surrounded by both Night Moon and Dryllish soldiers. Both Bow and Entrapta stared wide-eyed at the surrounding army and reluctantly put their hands up. They were completely encircled until a couple of the soldiers moved out of the way for their leader: Void. Void moved slowly towards Bow and Entrapta, her mask hiding her expression. She first marched up to Bow and grabbed his cheeks.

"Wielding only a bow and arrow and you've survived this long? Your skills must be exceptional. I'll have to make sure that you're spared." Void declared. Bow narrowed his eyes at Void in shock.

"_Spared? What does she mean by that…?" _Bow wondered to himself. Void then moved over to Entrapta.

"Ah, and you must be the only cognizantly competent princess on all of Etheria. Entrapta, if I'm right?" Void inquired. Entrapta nervously chuckled.

"Uh.. heh, heh. Uh, yes?" Entrapta awkwardly admitted.

"Excellent…" Void said, happily. She then motioned for her soldiers to grab her and Bow and added, "take them. It's time to hold up our end of the bargain…"

_Meanwhile, Brittni made it to the barracks to rally the troops… _

Brittni had used her observation skills to successfully infiltrate the streets and avoid all the traitor Dryllish soldiers. It was still relatively early in the morning and so the Horde soldiers were still in the barracks. Upon arriving, Brittni swung open the door and began panting from all the running she had done. Inside the barracks, the Horde soldiers stared suspiciously at Brittni. Most were just putting on their armor and getting out of their bunk beds.

"Everybody, listen! We don't have a lot of time, but you have to listen to me!" Brittni exclaimed. Brittni then went on to explain the situation regarding the coup d'etat of Dryl, and Brett's plan to counter the coup. Although mostly everyone was quiet, a feminine voice in the near back shouted back.

"Oh, yeah? Why should we listen to you? Weren't you the one trying to save a couple of rebel scumbags? One of which used to be one of us? How do we even know you're not working with the Rebellion?!" The voice said. Even though the voice was distorted under the helmet, Brittni could easily tell who it was.

"...Amazona…" Brittni muttered. The feminine voice scoffed. Taking off her helmet, sure enough, it was Amazona. She began walking towards Brittni.

"Yeah, it's me. Now give us a reason to trust you." Amazona snapped. Brittni's face went from hurt, to neutral, to angry.

"You want a reason?" Brittni inquired, she walked towards Amazona the same and both stopped within a few feet of each other. Brittni then said, "here's a few. Remember the Siege of Elberon? Who captured the Mayor? Brett and me. When Adora left the Fright Zone? Who tried to stop her? Me. When Adora left to join the Rebellion, who came back? I DID!" Brittni began shouting at this point. Amazona shuddered a bit and took a couple of steps back. Brittni then began pacing while maintaining eye contact with the soldiers.

"I have lived my entire life with an eye single to the glory of the Horde and the peace of Etheria. I have never deviated from this, and I never will. I am trying to save this world, and right now, I'm trying to save all of you!" Brittni exclaimed, her voice ringing with conviction. Some of the soldiers started muttering in agreement. Brittni then continued.

" I have never given any of you a reason to doubt me. I am Brittni, one of the Observer Twins, and right now, I'm asking for the loyalty of my fellow soldiers." Brittni said softly. It was quiet enough in the barracks to hear a pin drop. Brittni was waiting for any kind of response. That response came in the form of Amazona nodding.

"Okay. Alright, I trust you, Brittni. If you say these things are really gonna happen, I'm with you." Amazona declared.

"Me too!" Another voice chimed in.

"Yeah! We're with you, Nurse Brittni!" More voices chimed in. Brittni was smiling at this point. She put her helmet on then nodded.

"Thank you, all. Now, listen. Entrapta is reprogramming the robots to work for us. If you see any of the Dryllish soldiers with the red armband, take 'em out. Night Moon will most likely be here soon to support Cairus and his loyalists. If we head to Cairus' office and arrest him, we can stop this mess before it starts. Now let's go!" Brittni exclaimed. The Horde soldiers let out a cheer of determination and began filing out of the barracks. Brittni and Amazona were the last two in the barracks. Although the majority of their lives, the two rivals looked at each other with disdain and annoyance, at this moment they looked upon each other with mutual respect.

"Thank you…" Brittni said, smiling.

"Thank me when we get out of here alive," Amazona responded with a wink. She then put her helmet back on and the two ran out of the barracks to catch up with the others.

_Meanwhile, back in the prison with Brett and Frosta…_

Brett and Frosta eyed each other with severe contempt and enmity. Brett squared his body up and ignited his baton. Two of Frosta's soldiers ran at Brett brandishing their spears towards him. He simply kept his stance and waited for them to make their move. The one in front went for a simple jabbing motion while the other was cocking his spear back in order to throw it. The one in front thrust his spear, to which Brett grabbed it and pushed it back, forcing the end of the spear to hook the soldier's stomach.

The snow soldier let out an oof and fell on his knees. Meanwhile, the spear that the other one threw was flying at Brett. Brett quickly moved to grab the soldier he incapacitated and lifted him up, causing the spear to pierce his back. The soldier coughed up a hefty amount of blood and ceased to live. Brett then used the body to push forward while the other soldiers were firing lasers from their spears, hitting Brett's meat shield. Once Brett moved close enough, he moved the body out of his way and shoved his baton into the neck of the soldier that threw the spear. The soldier screamed rhythmically as the electricity surged through him then fell to the ground. A couple of lasers managed to hit parts of Brett's armor but were unable to pierce it. Brett then switched the baton to fire projectiles and fired a few rounds, hitting the snow soldiers on either side of Frosta.

Frosta switched glances between each soldier and started shuddering. Brett slowly moved towards Frosta with his baton aimed at her. Frosta generated ice around her fists and ran at Brett with the intent of punching him. He easily pivoted to the right, causing her to punch the air. He then countered by sticking his baton into her back. He pulled the trigger to activate the shock, but before the electricity hit her, Frosta managed to grab the barrel of the baton and surround it in ice. The baton's energy built up until it exploded causing both of them to fly in opposite directions. After a couple of pained grunts, the two picked themselves up and continued to battle.

Brett aimed his baton at Frosta and fired a few shots. Frosta generated an ice wall that managed to stop the energy blasts. Brett then ran at the wall and jump kicked through it, shattering the ice, and kicking Frosta, knocking her on her back. Brett tried to once again stick his baton into her neck, but she managed to punch his baton away and fired a snowball at his face, disorienting him and knocking him back several feet away. Brett groaned as he was thrown back, but quickly regained his composure. He then aimed his baton and slowly marched towards Frosta as she picked herself up.

"Stand down, princess," Brett commanded. Frosta raised her hands in faux surrender, but quickly generated sharpened icicles in each hand and shot them at Brett. Brett fired his baton and hit one icicle mid-air, and dove forward to dodge the other one. While this happened, Frosta generated more ice to the ground where Brett dove, causing him to slide on the ice towards her. Once he was close enough, Frosta endowed her foot with ice and kicked Brett in the head. Brett flew to his right, smacking into the wall.

"Oof! Ugh…" Brett groaned as his helmet flew off. Frosta then generated more ice to surround Brett until he was plastered to the wall. He began panting and struggling to get out of the ice. He attempted to reach the button on his flamethrower but stopped when he saw several icicles levitating from Frosta's hands pointed at his head. Brett stared hard at Frosta then chuckled.

"So… snowball gets her revenge?" Brett inquired. Frosta glared deeply at Brett but hesitated. Even her icicles started shaking mid-air. Brett smirked.

"You've never killed a person before, have you?" Brett challenged. Frosta shuddered even harder but kept her glare.

"Sh...Shut up!" Frosta stammered. Brett chuckled even more.

"I can see it in your eyes. You want to kill me, but you can't. You're not a killer. You're just bitter at what I did to you at your castle." Brett declared. Frosta began tearing up and her icicles started shaking even harder. Brett then continued.

"I'll admit, slicing you open with my chainsaw… well, if it makes you feel better, it was a freak accident." Brett admitted. Frosta growled in reply.

"But you did! And you left me to die!" Frosta accused.

"I did," Brett admitted, "that's how war is, kid. My sister tells me that some group called Night Moon is attacking Dryl. I'm assuming you're a part of that attack?" Brett inquired.

"All I want is my revenge against you! If I have to help Glimmer do her business, then so be it!" Frosta snapped.

"Glimmer? Huh, didn't know she had it in her. Lemme ask you something, princess: You do know that you're a part of an attack in a neutral zone, right? Do you even know what they plan on doing here?" Brett challenged. Frosta shuddered and slowly shook her head.

"I figured not," Brett muttered, "they plan on killing Entrapta and anybody loyal to her." Brett declared. Frosta gasped again.

"Y… You're lying!" Frosta snapped. Brett simply shook his head.

"I wish I was, but I'm not. I have proof in my pocket." Brett said. Frosta narrowed her eyes at him. She moved towards him and placed her hand on the ice covering his pocket. She then absorbed the ice and reached into the pocket, pulling the flash drive out. She then pulled out a tablet and plugged the flash drive into it. After a few moments of reading, Frosta's eyes grew wider and wider. Suddenly her lips quivered.

"I… I didn't know they really planned on killing this many people. I thought that they were just coming here because the Horde attacked and they offered me revenge…" Frosta said, glumly. Suddenly, the icicles that were levitating around her dropped and shattered.

"The Horde came here to defend Dryl against Night Moon. They're a terrorist organization." Brett declared. Frosta began tearing up then shook her head.

"But you still deserve to die!" Frosta snapped, glaring at Brett.

"Maybe I do," Brett admitted, "but are you gonna be the one to kill me? You're not a killer, Frosta. And frankly, there's not enough innocent people in this world. This isn't the right time for you to get your taste of blood." Brett accused. Frosta growled again as more tears burst from her eyes.

Brett had changed quite a bit since Princess Prom. In many ways, he actually regretted nearly killing a little girl that was almost twelve years old. She wasn't an insurrectionist, a military leader, or a killer.

She was just a little girl.

A little girl in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ever since that day, Brett pushed the guilt he felt deep inside, though it never actually went away. He reasoned with himself that she was a princess and needed to be eradicated. None of that was true, though. She was not a threat to the Horde. Again, she was just a little girl.

"I was haunted by believing that I killed you, Frosta. I tried to reason with myself that what I did was the right thing; that I got rid of one more princess in the world… but the whole time, all I did was nearly kill a little girl." Brett said, penitently. Frosta wiped away her tears and stared at Brett intently. He then continued,

"I know that it might not mean much coming from the person that almost ended your life… But… I…" Brett started, taking in a deep breath. Then, mustering all the strength he had, he made this proclamation:

"I'm sorry," Brett said with a couple of tears streaming from his eyes. Frosta gasped and took a few steps back. For a little while, neither person said anything. After that while, Frosta pulled out the flash drive from her tablet and placed it back in Brett's pocket. She started absorbing the ice that plastered Brett against the wall back into her hands and started walking away. Brett slowly fell from the wall onto his knees. He coughed a few times then looked to Frosta.

"Where are you going?" Brett inquired. Frosta stopped without looking back and sighed.

"I don't know… but I won't be a part of murdering innocent people." Frosta said. Brett then picked himself up. Frosta was near to the beginning of the staircase then looked back.

"I forgive you," Frosta said. Brett shuddered. He was thoroughly surprised that she actually forgave him. He was so stunned that he didn't make a move until Frosta had already left the prison.

It was at that moment that Brett wondered…

"_Maybe Princesses aren't so bad…" _

_Meanwhile, back with Brittni and the Horde brigade… _

The Horde squadron was fully locked and loaded, ready for the fight that was about to take place. Brittni divided the squadron into three teams. One of the teams was to go find Entrapta and Bow and make sure they were protected. The second squad was to go find Brett in the Dryl prison. Brittni explained to the remaining twenty-five troops that if they were quick to capture Cairus, the entire fight could be over rather quickly. As such, the Horde army marched through the cobblestone streets towards Cairus' office building.

As the Horde squadron made their way towards the office, it was easy to notice that there were no citizens on the street. Brittni did not need her Gift of Discernment to realize that something was very wrong. She held up a fist and her company ceased movement. Without looking back she calmly spoke:

"Everyone, get to cover. Now." Brittni commanded. On her command, the soldiers with her ran behind vehicles, buildings, stone benches, and anything else they could find to protect them. Brittni herself knew what was coming and so, stood her ground. She did unholster her laser pistol, however. As Brittni's instincts constrained her to send her soldiers on the defensive, her intuition was correct. Coming down the path was Cairus. Behind him marched the Dryllish red armband traitors and an army of combat robots. Brittni stood her ground, seeing if she could at least reason with him. When within thirty feet, Cairus shouted at Brittni.

"So, I see you escaped from prison. I'd say that should add another ten years to your sentence." Cairus sneered. Brittni growled and pointed her free hand's finger at Cairus.

"Give it up, Cairus! This little coup of yours isn't going to work!" Brittni snapped. Cairus merely smirked in reply.

"I beg to differ…" Cairus muttered. The moment Cairus spoke, Void appeared from behind a building to Cairus' left. With her, appeared her Night Moon soldiers, Entrapta, and Bow. Brittni let out a gasp.

"Entrapta! Bow! Grr… Cairus, you let them go right now!" Brittni commanded. Cairus chuckled and shook his head.

"Can't do it, kiddo. This is all for the good of the Dryllish people." Cairus said. He then sighed and added, "but, I think we've been talking long enough." Cairus then turned to his army.

"Bots, take care of this little pest..." Cairus commanded. At his word, around four bots began crawling towards Brittni. Brittni was about to raise her laser pistol when all of a sudden a shout came from Entrapta.

"FASCINATING!" Entrapta shouted at the top of her lungs. Everyone, including Horde, Dryllish, and Night Moon turned their heads to Entrapta. As soon as Entrapta yelled that, the lights adorning the bots went from red to purple. The bots then turned away from Brittni towards Cairus. Brittni knew what this meant and amidst the confusion, ran to her left behind a building alongside her other Horde soldiers. Cairus gasped and growled at what happened.

"No, no, no! What have you done?!" Cairus demanded. He then shook his head and added, "oh, forget it! Destroy those bots!" Cairus shouted.

At his command, the red armband wearing Dryllish soldiers dispersed from formation and began firing upon the bots. Bolts of lasers began firing upon each side, from both the bots and the Dryllish soldiers. Cairus ran back towards his office while his soldiers took care of the dirty work. Although the Dryllish soldiers began taking casualties, they managed to fire enough lasers to blast the four bots.

While this chaos was taking place, Void let out an angry shudder and ordered her soldiers to retreat with their precious human cargo. Meanwhile, the Dryllish soldiers began firing upon the bots that were still slowly being changed from red to purple. Brittni took advantage of this confusion and ordered her soldiers to fire upon the Red Armbands. She then noticed that one of the soldiers that were taking cover behind the building with her was Amazona.

"Amazona! You and the rest of you come with me! We need to get Entrapta and Bow back! Let's go!" Brittni ordered. Per her command, Amazona and the troops let out a battle cry and charged to the other side of the street and moved from building to building to avoid laser shots from the Red Armbands. The remaining Horde soldiers provided covering fire as Brittni and her team moved. Eventually, through distraction, they made it to the building where Void came from and moved around the opposite side to get to the next district.

Over in this next district, Brittni could see the Night Moons escorting their prisoners towards some kind of large air transport in the middle of the street. They were trying to escape with Entrapta and Bow! But Brittni was not about to let that happen. On her command, her team charged at Night Moon, firing their lasers. They managed to hit a couple of Night Moons that were holding Bow. Once they were down, Bow, despite his hands bound behind his back, kicked his last captor and ran to; and slid over a large vehicle, taking cover behind it. The other Horde soldiers ran for cover, though two of them were killed by Night Moon's laser fire. There was only Brittni, Amazona, and one other Horde soldier left. Void growled and let out a shout.

"Get Entrapta aboard! She's all that matters!" Void shouted. The two that were holding Entrapta quickly brought her aboard, despite her screaming protests. Void also boarded the transport, while a few Night Moons covered their retreat. The transport began lifting off and its side door swung open. The remaining Night Moons backflipped onto the transport. However, Amazona managed to get a shot at one of the Night Moons, causing him to fall forwards back onto the pavement. The air transport then took flight and departed Dryl.

Brittni groaned and growled as she fired her laser pistol at the air transport. Each shot was deflected from the heavy metal that the transport was armored with. Brittni then fell to her knees and started bashing her gun on the ground. Amazona ran up to her.

"Brittni? Brittni! It's okay, we'll get her back!" Amazona said reassuringly. Brittni looked back to Amazona and smacked her hand away.

"How?!" Brittni demanded. Amazona let out a sigh then heard grunting. The three remaining Horde soldiers looked to the source of the grunting and found that the Night Moon soldier was still alive. Brittni stood up and ran over to him, then grabbed him by the chest plate and lifted him up. The Night Moon coughed a few times then started giggling maniacally.

"Where did they go?! Tell me!" Brittni commanded. The Night Moon continued to giggle until Brittni gave him a right hook. He coughed up some blood but still refused to talk. Brittni was losing her patience and stuck her laser pistol to his dome. For a few moments, Brittni felt a vindictive rage begin to come over her. Her finger slowly squeezed the trigger until her necklace beamed with radiance she heard a rather familiar voice.

"_Brittni…" _Oracle's resounding voice, sounding a little more desperate than usual, _"do not kill him! I know to this day you have not shed blood out of pure vengeance. Once you do that, you'll never be the same. Please… do not let your rage dictate your actions…"_ Oracle beseeched.

Brittni shuddered upon hearing her mother's pleading. Deep in her heart, Brittni knew she was not a killer. She dropped the pistol and took a deep breath.

"No…" Brittni began as she lifted herself up, "I'm not a killer. I won't seek vengeance." Brittni declared. Oracle's voice came back at that moment.

"_Thank you, daughter… I realize that you're angry, but I am proud of you for controlling it. Just remember this, your powers can only be used on the principles of righteousness. Take a deep breath and touch his hand. Then you will see the future… Be safe my daughter." _And with that, Oracle's voice left Brittni. The Night Moon was about to pick himself up when Brittni leaned down and grabbed his hand. Suddenly an incredibly disturbing revelation flashed into Brittni's mind.

Brittni began shuddering extensively. She let out a loud gasp then grabbed the Night Moon by his chest plate and lifted his face to hers.

"What happened to her?! What did you people do to her?!" Brittni demanded, shaking him. The Night Moon stared visibly confused at Brittni.

"Wha? What are you talking about?" The Night Moon inquired. Amazona and the other Horde soldier switched glances between each other and Brittni.

"Uh, Brittni?" Amazona inquired. Brittni dropped the Night Moon and turned to the Horde soldier.

"Soldier, go get Bow and make sure he's okay," Brittni commanded. The soldier acknowledged Brittni's order and ran to Bow. Brittni then turned to Amazona,

"We need to get back to our troops. Now!"

_On another Night Moon air transport carrying Glimmer, Frosta, and a special someone…_

Glimmer, Frosta, a few of each of their soldiers and a bound up Adora were all in an air transport that was flying over the battle between the Horde soldiers, combat robots, and the Dryllish soldiers. Lasers were flying to and fro between them. Lasers burned holes in vehicles, buildings, and other pieces of cover. The robots that were present were all but destroyed, but they managed to take out a majority of the Dryllish soldiers.

"Hmm, it seems that the Dryllish military could use some backup." Glimmer said, devilishly as she held up the data crystal. Adora let out a loud gasp.

"Please, Glimmer, no. Please, don't do this!" Adora begged. Glimmer smirked.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you only kill the Horde soldiers." Glimmer said, facetiously. She stood up from her seat and gently brushed Adora's cheek. Frosta shuddered and attempted to reason with Glimmer.

"Gl...Glimmer?" Frosta inquired. Glimmer turned to her with a scowl.

"Frosta?" Glimmer inquired, impatiently. Frosta started rubbing her shoulder while looking away.

"Glimmer, are you sure this is the best thing? I mean, getting revenge on the Horde is one thing… but won't exposing Adora to the crystal cause her to attack anything in sight?" Frosta carefully inquired. Glimmer took her hand off Adora and knelt down in front of Frosta. Glimmer started brushing Frosta's cheek and leaned in close, planting a kiss on her. Frosta's cheeks, despite normally being frozen, rose to 100°F. Glimmer then leaned into Frosta's ear and whispered.

"It's for the greater good, Frosta… please, just trust me." Glimmer said.

"Frosta! Don't listen to-mmph!" Adora began before Glimmer turned back and used her purple aura to surround Adora's mouth.

"Helmsman," Glimmer started, "get us close to the battlefield." Glimmer commanded. Per her command, the air transport flew behind some buildings on the Horde's side away from their troops. A couple of Frosta's soldiers grabbed Adora by the shoulders and pulled her out of the transport and untied her wrists. Once her bonds were free, Adora quickly punched both soldiers. She was then going to run away, but she was too late.

Glimmer used her telekinetic aura to throw the sword of power, and then the data crystal at Adora. Once the crystal stuck to her, red veiny-looking wires began spreading throughout her body moving towards the sword. Once the wires linked to the sword, Adora transformed into She-Ra.

This She-Ra was different, however. She had a distorted, deepened voice, bigger muscles… and reddened, beast-like eyes. This She-Ra had only one goal in what was left of her mind:

Kill.


	34. Chapter 34: Amends

Chapter 34: Amends

No amount of training could have prepared anyone; Horde or Dryllish soldiers alike, for the upcoming slaughter that they were all about to face. Once She-Ra was reinfected with Entrapta's data crystal, her prefrontal lobe had been completely blocked and she felt nothing but a frenzied rage. As the two sides continued to exchange laser fire, a vehicle flew in between the fight of the Horde and Dryllish soldiers. The vehicle crash-landed in the middle of the street causing chunks of asphalt and smoke to fly in all directions.

Both factions stayed their weapons as they tried to figure out what had just happened. Once the smoke cleared, both factions widened their eyes as the greatest threat that either faction would ever see gave them both a sinister glare.

She-Ra growled as she looked at both factions, wondering which one to decimate first. The Horde, believing She-Ra to be on their side at the moment, refrained from shooting her. The Dryllish soldiers, on the other hand, did not share this sentiment. The leader of the Dryllish soldiers stared hard at She-Ra and shuddered once She-Ra turned her rabid gaze towards him. The leader looked to his men then suddenly shrieked.

"Uh, uh! OPEN FIRE!" The leader shouted. Per his command, a wave of lasers began flying towards She-Ra. She let out an animalistic growl and swiped her sword at the street. Once her sword made contact with the street, a wide explosion kicked up the asphalt in chunks which served as a shield against the lasers. However, a couple of the lasers did manage to make it past the asphalt which hit She-Ra in the arm. She let out a carnal scream but shrugged off her wound as she grabbed hold of the vehicle that she threw earlier.

She-Ra then picked the vehicle up effortlessly and heaved it swiftly at the Dryllish soldiers. They let out shouts of fear as they dove out of the way, but she did manage to take a few of them out. She-Ra then transformed her sword into a shield with acuminated edges and charged at the remaining Dryllish soldiers.

The unlucky soldier that happened to be closest to her was quick to be picked off. She-Ra used the sharpened edge of the shield to slice his head clean off. Soldiers to her right began firing their lasers, but their shots were blocked by her shield. Once the shield absorbed enough lasers, She-Ra used the shield to fire the lasers right back at the enemy. The barrage of lasers coalesced into one giant laser and exploded when it hit the Dryllish soldiers, taking out many more of them. The remaining soldiers looked at each other and began to retreat. She-Ra was not about to let that happen, however.

She-Ra transformed her shield into a bladed boomerang and hurled it at the retreating soldiers. The ones nearest to She-Ra felt the boomerang slice their backs in a lined fashion causing them to fall dead to the ground. Very few Dryllish soldiers managed to escape.

A loud cheer came from the Horde soldiers on the opposite end. This cheering caught She-Ra's attention and she turned towards them. She-Ra saw nothing but red as she growled at the Horde soldiers. The soldiers looked at each other in fear and confusion.

"RETREAT!" One of the soldiers shouted. Per that order, the Horde soldiers began retreating southwards towards the barracks they had come from. She-Ra let out another animalistic roar and charged at the retreating Horde soldiers. Stuck between buildings on either side, the Horde had no choice but to run in a straight line. The ones in the rear were the most at risk, and so, were trying their best to get away. One brave soul from among them stopped his stride.

"Keep going! I'll hold her off!" The soldier shouted. Two of his companions stopped their retreat as well and joined him. She-Ra was within ten feet. The three simultaneously raised their laser rifles and began firing at She-Ra. With a swipe of her sword, she deflected two of the shots back at her attackers, but the last shot managed to hit her. She let out her inhuman shriek before focusing her attention on the remaining soldier. He fired a few more rounds at her, but she easily dodged it. She jumped high in the air; much higher than the average She-Ra could then dove down with her sword aimed at the soldier's head. With one swift motion, her sword cleaved through the head, vertically slicing it in half.

She-Ra's bloodlust was still not satisfied, however. But, the remaining Horde soldiers had made a much larger gap thanks to the sacrifice of the three brave souls that stood their ground. She-Ra was about to continue her onslaught when she heard a familiar voice coming from a little ways behind her. She-Ra turned her attention to the voice. It was Brittni, Amazona, Bow, and the remaining Horde soldier.

"Adora?! What are you doing?!" Brittni demanded. Although they were around fifty feet away, Brittni could see that She-Ra had killed Horde soldiers. Adora muttered a low growl then widened her glowing red eyes. Brittni and company shuddered.

"Oh, no…" Bow muttered, "that's not Adora, anymore. She's been infected with the data crystal! We need to go! NOW!" Bow shouted. Nobody was about to argue with Bow and so turned away from She-Ra and ran as though the ground was slowly sinking beneath them.

Brittni and company had just gotten into the same boat that the other Horde soldiers were just in; that is, they were now She-Ra's prey. The panting of each individual was only drowned out only by the incessant, carnal roars coming from She-Ra as she inched ever closer to them. Brittni was looking around for any way out, but the street seemed to stretch on forever and She-Ra was closing in on them. Suddenly, they found themselves at the end of the street. To the left was a steel wall, and to the right were more buildings. Brittni and company turned to face She-Ra and readied their weapons. She-Ra's countenance still looked enraged but there was an evil grin that was slowly curving on her face as she raised her sword ready to slash. She-Ra was within twenty feet, advancing slowly on their position. Brittni, Amazona, and the Horde soldier brandished their laser weapons, while Bow nocked an arrow. All four were ready to fire when all of a sudden, they saw a helicopter flying towards them…

...A Horde helicopter…

_Meanwhile, back at the reestablished Night Moon headquarters based in Elberon…_

Void, Glimmer, Frosta, and Cairus managed to escape Dryl with all of their respective factions. They returned to Elberon that had been completely converted into Night Moon's main stronghold. It had been reinforced with denser walls, sophisticated security, patrols, and checkpoints. Along with all their soldiers, the leaders met inside Elberon's castle in a big conference hall. Void was at the pulpit with the faction leaders sitting behind her and the rest of their soldiers in the audience.

"Fellow Night Moon, Kingdom of Snow, and Dryllish soldiers. Today is a day of significance that marks the unification of all three of our nations. We are as the Rebellion should have been all along; that is, an actual threat to the Horde. Although there were some minor setbacks in Dryl, we have come back with the greatest prize of all: Princess Entrapta, and her plans regarding portal technology. Thanks to the sacrifice of our fellow soldiers, we now have a way to sneak behind enemy lines simply by walking through a portal!" Void declared.

A great cheer resounded in the conference hall showing the enthusiasm of all the troops. Void grinned under her mask. Glimmer and Cairus let out a cheer as well, but Frosta sat in her seat, rather uncomfortable. Void then continued.

"Now that we have the brilliant mind behind the portal plans as well as the technology, Entrapta has informed me that the only missing pieces we need are this… 'First One's technology.' This technology is some kind of fusion of magic and science, and I know just where to get it… Mystacor." Void proclaimed. Another resounding cheer rang out. Void then continued, "I will demand of Mystacor their technology. If they refuse to accept our demands, we will have no choice but to take it by force." Glimmer let out a quieted gasp underneath another resounding cheer that rang out across the crowd. Void chuckled lightly.

"Yes, my fellow freedom fighters. Soon we will have all the technology we need to strike a great blow against the Horde, and that day will be soon. For now, everyone return to your duties. And thank you for all of your hard work. I promise that it will all pay off. Dismissed." Void said.

Per her command, everyone left the conference hall until only the leaders resided. Glimmer stood up from her chair and beseeched Void.

"Void, please. We don't need to take their technology by force. Aunt Castaspella will listen to me if I explain to her how bad we need it." Glimmer declared. Void groaned upon hearing Castaspella's name.

"Ugh… Castaspella… She was one of the sorceresses that forced me out of Mystacor. I have a bone to pick with her." Void sneered. Glimmer glared at Void with her black sclera eyes and folded her arms. Void sighed and continued, "but if it's that important to you, I will allow you to try the diplomatic approach. But mark my words, my dear niece. If Castaspella refuses your offer, we will have no choice but to take what we need by force. Is that clear?" Void demanded. Glimmer let out a slight growl but nevertheless nodded her head.

"Good." Void said, her voice becoming more upbeat, "then head to the communications center and contact Mystacor. Let me know what they say." Void then turned to Cairus, "Cairus, I'm sorry that our plan for you to take control of Dryl did not pan out the way you wanted it. But you and the rest of your people are more than welcome to stay here. We can retake Dryl another day. Especially now that we have the princess." Void declared. Cairus let out a grunt and nodded.

"What's done is done. Let's just make our preparations for our next move." Cairus said. Void and Cairus then made their exit out of the conference hall. Glimmer began making her way out of the conference hall when she felt a tug on her pauldron. She looked back to see a disheartened Frosta giving her a somber look.

"Frosta? What is it?" Glimmer inquired. Frosta let out a sigh then asked Glimmer to sit back down with her. Glimmer did so and Frosta went on to explain her feelings.

"Glimmer, I didn't know that we would be attacking innocent people." Frosta muttered, "and kidnapping Entrapta? Why would you agree to that?!" Frosta demanded. Glimmer let out a scoff.

"Sometimes you need to get your hands dirty in order to win the battle. We need Entrapta for the portal technology, and the only way to get her cooperation was to bring her in by force. These are small sacrifices for the greater good." Glimmer reasoned. Frosta stood up.

"I saw what was happening! That guy, Cairus or whatever, his own soldiers betrayed their kingdom!" Frosta snapped. Glimmer growled.

"If the bots remained under Cairus' control, there wouldn't have been any casualties! I don't know why you're so mad. The only people that were harmed were the Dryllish and Horde soldiers. I thought you'd be happy about the Horde getting slaughtered. I mean, you did manage to kill that one Horde officer, Brett, right?" Glimmer inquired. Frosta shuddered and looked away. Glimmer narrowed her dark eyes at Frosta.

"You didn't kill him, did you? Cairus told you exactly where he'd be! I saw you go into that prison! What happened?" Glimmer demanded. Frosta shuddered a bit more, then took her seat. A few tears began streaming down her face. While her head was down, Frosta continued.

"Glimmer… I could have killed him. I was ready to kill him… but he… he sincerely apologized. I… I just couldn't do it." Frosta said as she began to sob. Glimmer glared at Frosta until she witnessed Frosta sobbing. Frosta then continued, "I just don't know what's happened to you, Glimmer. In one way, I'm glad that you're taking a more proactive role in fighting the Horde… but some of these methods… they just aren't right." Frosta mused. Glimmer let out a sigh and patted Frosta's back. Frosta wrapped her arms around Glimmer and continued crying.

Ordinarily, Glimmer would have scolded Frosta for not executing her objective, but she started remembering that Frosta was still pretty young. In addition, although Glimmer had been exploiting Frosta's love towards her, Glimmer began returning the affection. All the time they had been spending together, Glimmer was actually beginning to truly love Frosta back.

During this moment, Glimmer also began feeling a tenderness she had not felt for a while. At that moment, Glimmer had felt a little bit of light return to her. In a way, she actually enjoyed that feeling. Because of this, Glimmer decided to be a little more sympathetic.

"...Maybe you're right." Glimmer admitted. Even more light began flowing through her body, "well, hopefully, we'll be able to minimize the casualties if I'm able to convince my Aunt Castaspella to give us the First One's tech. If we can do that, our only target left would be to attack the Fright Zone directly and end this war." Glimmer explained. Frosta broke away from the hug and sniffled. Glimmer rubbed the tears from Frosta's eyes and laid a passionate kiss on her. The two pressed their lips together for what seemed like an eternity. When they pulled away Frosta let out a giggly chuckle and turned red.

"That's the Glimmer I've always liked," Frosta said. Glimmer let out a chuckle and stood up.

"Alright, I'm going to the communications center. You can come with me if you'd like." Glimmer offered. Frosta nodded and grabbed Glimmer's hand. Glimmer blushed a little then smiled. The two then walked out of the conference hall, hand-in-hand.

Meanwhile, Void and Cairus had been posted at the second level witnessing the entire interaction between the two.

"Hmph, I hope that snowgirl doesn't soften your second-in-command up," Cairus muttered as he leaned on the rail.

"Oh, she won't." Void said, calmly, "and if she does, well… we'll just have to remove her…"

_Meanwhile, back at Dryl… _

The Horde team (and Bow) rejoiced when they saw that red bat symbol of the Horde come into view. The helicopter's loud propellers constrained She-Ra to redirect her attention at it. She let out her animalistic growl and began running towards it. The helicopter turned to its side and the passenger door slid open. Although it was hard to make out, Brittni gasped when she realized who it was in the passenger hold.

Catra!

And Catra was not alone. She was manning a machine laser with its crosshairs aimed right at She-Ra. The machine laser began spinning its barrels until hot beams of green light began flying out towards She-Ra. She-Ra transformed her sword into a shield again and attempted to use it to block the incoming lasers. This tactic did not work as well as she thought, however, as many of the lasers managed to hit She-Ra's legs, causing her to drop to her knees.

She-Ra writhed in pain as she fell to the ground. Nevertheless, this mostly made her more angry than anything. With She-Ra's attention now diverted, however, Brittni, Bow, and Amazona started moving towards the most leftwards building to hopefully get away from She-Ra. The remaining Horde soldier simply stood there and aimed her laser rifle at She-Ra. Amazona and Bow ran into the building while Brittni turned back, realizing the other soldier wasn't with them.

"Roxy! What are you doing?!" Brittni demanded.

"Taking She-Ra out!" Roxy yelled as she fired her rifle at She-Ra. She-Ra looked back at the lasers coming from Roxy's rifle and could not defend against both fronts. The lasers struck her in multiple areas causing her to fall on her back, seemingly unconscious. Brittni, Amazona, and Bow switched glances between Roxy and She-Ra.

"Adora!" Bow cried out seeing his best friend fall.

"Wow…" Amazona muttered, "nice job, Roxy." Roxy let out a choked chuckle and rubbed the back of her helmet. Bow pushed Amazona out of the way and ran towards She-Ra. Brittni, meanwhile, stood there frozen, not believing that Adora could really be dead. The Horde helicopter slowly descended until it was resting on the street. Catra jumped out of the passenger side with a look of concern. Amazona and Roxy then ran towards Catra.

Catra kept her gaze fixated on She-Ra, shuddering, thinking that Adora was truly dead. She completely ignored the fact that Bow was even there. When Catra approached She-Ra, she fell to her knees and trembled as she put her hands on her. Brittni turned to Amazona and Roxy and motioned for them to get on the helicopter. She then walked over to Catra and knelt down next to her.

"Is… Is she…?" Brittni inquired distantly. Catra said nothing but continued to stare at She-Ra, not believing what she was seeing.

"I… I didn't want to kill her…" Catra admitted, "I was just trying to… I dunno, knock her out or something." Catra said with a few tears streaming down her eyes. Bow then stood up.

"Knock her out? Knock her out?! You used a machine laser on her! What did you think was going to happen?!" Bow demanded. Tears began streaming faster down Catra's face as she stood up and glared at Bow.

"She was in her princess form! She's been able to take a tank blast before! How was I supposed to know that this would do her in?!" Catra demanded. The two then began yelling over each other. During this time Brittni peered closer to She-Ra and felt her pulse.

"Fifty beats per minute…" Brittni muttered to herself. She then raised her head, "hey, HEY! Shut up! She's still alive!" Brittni shouted. Catra and Bow stopped their bickering and looked down. Sure enough, She-Ra was still breathing.

"Yeah, her heart rate is at normal resting- wait." Brittni began. Slowly, She-Ra's heart rate began picking up. Before Brittni had a chance to respond, She-Ra's glowing red eyes appeared as her eyelids opened up. She-Ra then sat up and grabbed Bow by the shirt and threw him towards the helicopter, barreling him into Amazona and Roxy. All three let out a major oof as they flew against the helicopter and were knocked out.

She-Ra then immediately turned to Catra, grabbed her by the neck and lifted her several feet in the air. Catra tried clawing at She-Ra's arm, but her slashing only made She-Ra angrier and tightened her grip.

"A...Dor...A… Please…!" Catra begged as she gripped She-Ra's wrist. She-Ra simply continued gazing at Catra with an animalistic rage. Brittni, taking a few steps back, ran at She-Ra full force and tackled her to the ground. Thanks to the weight of the armor, Brittni actually managed to take She-Ra down and make She-Ra loosen her grip on Catra's throat. Catra fell to the ground and gasped for breath.

"Adora! It's Brittni! Wake up! We're your friends! Please!" Brittni begged. She-Ra let out a carnal scream in return and kicked Brittni off. Brittni flew back almost ten feet away. The armor cushioned the blow, but Brittni still felt like she took the kick without armor.

"Ugh…" Brittni groaned. She-Ra then brandished her sword at Brittni and marched towards her. Just as She-Ra was about to raise her sword to swipe at Brittni, Catra jumped on She-Ra's back and attempted to rip the sword from She-Ra's hands. With her free hand, She-Ra grabbed Catra's hands that were attempting to grab the sword and threw Catra towards Brittni, causing Catra to crash into her.

Both girls groaned but then gasped when She-Ra again attempted to slice them both with her sword. She-Ra made a vertical swipe and the two girls rolled the opposite way of each other. When the sword collided with the street, a large crack appeared. The crack became larger and larger until a hole, big enough for all three opened, and swallowed them, causing them to fall in the deep depths of the Dryllish underground…

_Meanwhile, at the Communications Center in Elberon…_

"Glimmer! Oh, thank goodness you're alright." Glimmer's aunt, Castaspella gushed as she was able to see Glimmer. Castaspella then added after looking at Glimmer's new look, "I… I see you've changed your look. Well, no worries, the next time I see you, we can give you a makeover!" Castaspella suggested. Glimmer groaned and rubbed her forehead while Frosta sat quietly in the chair next to her.

"Hey, Aunt Casta, I just want to know if I can borrow some of that First One's Technology that Mystacor dug up." Glimmer demanded. Castaspella cocked her eyebrow.

"Why, whatever for?" Castaspella inquired.

"It's… for a device that is going to help us with a battle with the Horde. Please, can we borrow some of that tech?" Glimmer inquired. Castaspella slowly shook her head.

"Glimmer, those artifacts we've found still merit a great deal of study. We can't just simply hand them over-" Castaspella began before being interrupted by Glimmer's groan. Her eyes began glowing purple and Castaspella gasped upon seeing her niece's shift in attitude.

"Aunt Casta!" Glimmer shouted, "Listen, I don't know what you plan on doing with that tech, but I guarantee it is incredibly trivial compared to why we need it. Now can we have it or are we going to have to take it from you?" Glimmer threatened.

"Young Lady!" Castaspella snapped back, "I'm not sure where you learned that behavior, but that is no way to ask for help. I told you the reasons, and I-" Castaspella began before getting interrupted by Glimmer again.

"This is so typical with you and the rest of your useless sorcerers! There is a war going on that will determine the survival between the Horde and the rest of Etheria. All you and your people do is laze about and talk to the sky or whatever! We could have used your magic for so many battles and you idly sat by while innocents were slaughtered. Well, if you're not going to fight, maybe I'll give you a reason to fight!" Glimmer snapped. She then ended the transmission and stood up. She used her aura to surround a locker in the corner and throw it across the room, slamming into another wall, blowing a silhouette of the locker thrown through the wall.

Frosta blinked several times as her lips quivered. She looked at Glimmer who was panting as though she had just run a marathon. Frosta did not want to say anything in fear of Glimmer's wrath. Glimmer maintained the scowl on her face until she turned her attention to Frosta. Seeing the distraught expression on Frosta's face, Glimmer let out a low shudder.

"I… I'm sorry you had to see that, Frosta." Glimmer apologized. Frosta let out a sigh.

"I feel that you could have handled that better. I mean, you only gave her one explanation… maybe it would be better to ask her in person?" Frosta suggested. Glimmer let out a sigh.

"Yeah… maybe. I don't know, ugh…" Glimmer groaned, "I think I just need to get some sleep."

"Well, where's _our_ bed?" Frosta teased. Glimmer grinned.

"I'll show you…"

_Back at Dryl… _

Brittni, Catra, and She-Ra had fallen through the hole. Brittni had landed first and was cushioned by her armor. Catra, likewise, was fine as she landed on her feet. She-Ra was less lucky, as when she fell down, she slammed on the concrete. Thankfully when she hit the ground, so did the data crystal. The crystal absolutely shattered upon contact with the ground, thus breaking the virus' control over She-Ra.

Brittni groaned as she slowly picked herself up from the concrete platform. She could hear rustling water coming from nearby. Sure enough, when Brittni blinked a few times, she found that they were all in Dryl's sewer. She stood up and wiped the debris that fell on her. A few feet away, Brittni found Catra and…

Adora! Not She-Ra, but actually Adora! Catra was already gripping Adora by the shoulders shouting for her to wake up.

"Adora? Adora! Wake up! Please, wake up!" Catra begged. Brittni moved over to the two and gently moved Catra away. Catra scoffed, "Hey, what're you doing-" Catra started before Brittni let out a groan.

"I'm sorry, did you become a medical practitioner in the last week?" Brittni asked, sarcastically. Catra rubbed her shoulder and let out a sigh. Brittni then added, "yeah. Let me handle this." Catra scoffed, stood up and away, then folded her arms. Brittni then placed her hand on Adora's neck and was shocked to feel that her heart rate was going from resting to completely active.

"What the…?" Brittni inquired. She then gasped at what happened next. Adora immediately raised her torso up from the ground and gave Brittni the goofiest smile ever.

"Brittni! Oh, my gawwwwsh, it is so good to see you!" Adora said while letting out a snort. She then wrapped Brittni in a hug and ended up toppling her over.

"Whoa, whuh?!" Brittni protested as she fell over.

"Hah-hah… tag, you're it!" Adora shouted. She then quickly picked herself and awkwardly started to run until she saw Catra. Adora and Catra stared at each other with looks of uncertainty. Catra's lip began to quiver while Adora continued to study Catra thoroughly.

"Adora… I…" Catra began. Adora then ran up to Catra and wrapped her in a hug.

"Catra! Oh, man, it is soooo good to see you! You remember Brittni, right?!" Adora giggled and snorted. Catra widened her eyes in confusion and looked to Brittni. Brittni just shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, about as clueless as Catra.

"Hey, Catra! You're still afraid of water, right?! Last one in's a dirty little imp!" Adora shouted as she broke away from Catra and jumped into the rather filthy sewer water. The water splashed towards Catra causing the fur on Catra to stand up. Catra herself let out a rather high pitched shriek as she jumped away several feet against the wall, and landed on all fours. Adora let out a snorty laugh as she started splashing more water towards Catra.

"Adora! What the heck is the matter with you?! Knock it off!" Catra yelled. Brittni could not help but giggle under her breath. Catra narrowed her eyes at Brittni and growled. Adora continued to laugh until she saw a rather large pile of debris flowing down the sewer towards her.

"Hey, guys! Look, there's a giant pile of sh- AGH!" Adora screamed as the debris crashed into her.

"ADORA!" Catra and Brittni screamed, simultaneously. Adora laugh-screamed as the debris pile began sweeping her down the sewer. Without hesitation, the two Horde girls sprung into action and ran on the walkway in the direction of the current. Adora seemed to be picking up speed. Brittni analyzed the situation:

_"There's debris in this water… the current's moving faster…" _Brittni thought to herself. She then gasped.

"Oh, no…" Brittni muttered.

"What?!" Catra shouted as she panted.

...She's headed for a waterfall…" Brittni said, gravely. Catra let out a gasp and picked up the pace, jumping on all fours and maneuvering around Brittni. Brittni stopped her pace and dropped her jaw when she saw what happened next. Catra sprung from the walkway and leaped at Adora. Brittni let out a loud gasp.

"Catra!" Brittni protested, but it was too late. Catra had splashed into the water and grabbed hold of Adora's right arm and attempted pulling her from the debris.

"Brittni, get over here!" Catra ordered. Brittni sprang into action and ran as though she were two feet taller. The current continued to pick up, however, and Brittni was falling behind. Catra was struggling to stay afloat while simultaneously pulling Adora from the debris; (and to brave the water in general.) Meanwhile, Adora was in la-la land.

"Hey, Catra! Let's play Marco Polo! I'll go first! Marco!" Adora hooted. Catra growled for a moment until a lightbulb popped into her head. Catra let go of Adora's arm, swam towards the walkway, and grabbed onto the railing.

"Polo!" Catra yelled. Accordingly, Adora pulled herself from the debris and swam towards Catra.

"Ah-ha! I got you!" Adora clumsily declared as she tried to grab Catra… but missed. Catra looked towards the current's end and saw that the waterfall was coming up. Catra let out a loud gasp.

"POLO! POLO! POLO!" Catra yelled. Adora grumbled.

"Catra, I didn't say Marco- Whuh!" Adora started saying before being grabbed by Catra. Catra had to let go of the walkway railing to grab Adora, so now both were floating towards their doom.

"Brittni, help!" Catra yelled. Brittni saw that the waterfall was coming and sprinted beyond her max. Catra looked as they were only a few feet from the waterfall. She let out a loud scream while Adora giggled relentlessly. Just as the two were about to plummet down the waterfall, Catra held Adora tightly and shouted something Brittni did not believe she would ever hear.

"Adora… I... I love you!" Cata shouted. The two then began falling down the waterfall. Catra let out a loud shriek of fear as the two were about to descend into oblivion...

...Until a certain twin grabbed Catra's shoulders.

Catra looked up and saw Brittni holding the railing at the end of the walkway while also grabbing her shoulder. Catra reached her free hand and grabbed hold of Brittni's arm while holding onto Adora… who was dangling below Catra. Using the strength of her power armor, Brittni slowly but surely pulled the two up safely onto the walkway.

Brittni was panting heavily while Catra was shivering and panting. She got on all fours and shook herself to get all the water out of her fur. Adora in the meanwhile was laying on the walkway kicking her feet in the air.

"Woohoo! I won!" Adora whooped. She then started waving her limbs back and forth, and added, "woo! Water angel!"

Catra and Brittni both let out groans. Although these groans almost sounded more of relief than aggravation. While Adora was entertaining herself, Brittni sat and leaned against the wall while Catra squeezed the water out of her clothes. Brittni smiled at Catra and she took notice.

"...Um, thanks for saving us, Brittni." Catra admitted almost begrudgingly.

"That's not what I'm smiling about, Catra." Brittni said, chuckling. Catra eyed Brittni suspiciously then widened her eyes.

"You didn't… hear any-" Catra began to say before Brittni interrupted her with a yell.

"I heard EVERYTHING, Catra!" Brittni yelled, giggling and pointing at Catra.

"Wha- Look, I dunno what you think you heard, but-" Catra began before being interrupted again; this time by a recording device.

_"Adora… I… I love you!" _Catra's voice came from the recording device built into Brittni's armor. Catra's already widened eyes became even wider as she trembled from hearing her own voice admit to something so… compromising. Catra marched right up to Brittni with a huff.

"You delete that right now, or so help me…" Catra threatened. At this point, Brittni was giggling like a hyena.

"Alright, alright." Brittni conceded. Catra started walking towards Adora and knelt down. Brittni then added, "it was pretty cute, though." Brittni smirked.

"Oh, shut up and help me fix her," Catra commanded. Brittni stood up and walked over to Adora. Adora was blowing raspberries while holding onto her feet. Brittni bit her gloved finger as she contemplated how to fix Adora.

"Hmm… well, her Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid transmitter in her brain has abated… basically, she's experiencing the equivalent of inebriation." Brittni surmised. Catra looked up at her.

"Okay, medic nerd, how do we get her back to normal?" Catra demanded.

"Hmmm… well, we can either wait for the GAMA transmitter to function correctly, or we can apply stress to the frontal lobe in order to jumpstart the-" Brittni began saying, to the chagrin of Catra who interrupted Brittni's plan with a smack to Adora's face.

"Ow! Catra!" Adora protested, "Wait. Catra?! What? What's going on?! Where are we?!" Adora demanded. Brittni narrowed her eyes at Adora.

"Adora! You're back!" Brittni squealed as she reached over and wrapped Adora in a hug. Catra hissed at this action, to which Brittni looked over and smiled devilishly.

"Jealous?" Brittni teased, sticking her tongue out. Catra's cheeks turned red for a few moments and she growled.

"No! I just don't want you getting affectionate with the enemy!" Catra snapped. "In case you forgot, Brittni, she betrayed us!" Brittni pulled away from Adora and Adora looked at Catra in desperation. Adora then let out a sigh and looked down.

"This would be the… fourth time? Fifth? Ugh, whatever…" Adora began. She then stood up and looked at Catra. Catra leaned against a wall with her arms folded.

"Catra…" Adora reattempted to start.

"What Adora? What could you possibly have to say to me?" Catra demanded. Adora groaned and rubbed her shoulder.

"I just… I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I left so suddenly and I'm sorry that I didn't give you an explanation as to why." Adora said, glumly.

"I don't care about an explanation! You left! Do you know what I went through when you just up and defected from the Horde? Do you know how alone I was? Do you…" Catra began choking on her emotion, "do you even care?!" Catra demanded.

"Of course I care, Catra! Everything just happened so fast." Adora protested, "Catra… I left the Horde because I saw what they were doing to the rest of Etheria... I couldn't be a part of that anymore…" Adora said, with a few tears streaming down her face. She looked back up at Catra, determinedly.

"Catra, I promise you… I never wanted to leave you. I really never did." Adora proclaimed as she walked closer to Catra. Catra hissed but did not move. Adora then reached for Catra's hands and gently held them. Catra switched glances between her hands and Adora's face. A few tears began streaming out of Catra's eyes and she shuddered.

"But you did leave me, Adora! You just left without considering everything that you were doing!" Catra accused. Adora looked down, sighed, then gently rubbed Catra's hands.

"I know… I know I did, Catra…" Adora let out another sigh. "But maybe I can make up for it?" Adora suggested. Catra pulled her hands away.

"How? How could you possibly make up for leaving? In case you forgot, we're on opposite sides in the middle of a war!" Catra snapped. Brittni then threw her two cents in.

"Well… actually, it's a little more complicated than that." Brittni said. Catra turned to Brittni.

"What's complicated? The Horde hates the Rebellion and vice versa. Sounds pretty simple to me!" Catra jeered. Brittni shook her head.

"It's a long story…" Brittni started. She then sighed and shook her head, "look, for right now, we need to focus on getting out of this sewer," Brittni suggested. Catra switched glances between Adora and Brittni.

"Alright… let's get out of here."

_Meanwhile, back at Elberon… _

Glimmer was tossing and turning in her bed while sweating profusely.

"Ergh! No! Who are you?!"

"... My name is Oracle..."


	35. Chapter 35: Night Moon Darkens

Chapter 35: Night Moon Darkens

Glimmer looked around and found herself in some sort of garden. Surrounding her was a wide variety of vegetation with many different colors. Beneath her feet was a little cobblestone path that looped around the garden. The aroma in the air was a mix of trimmed spring grass and freshly cut lemons. Glimmer herself was sitting on a stone bench, utterly confused.

"Where the [EXPLICIT] am I?" Glimmer inquired. As a quick afterthought, she added, "and why can't I swear?"

"Because, Princess Glimmer, I abhor profanity." A mysterious voice said. Glimmer looked around but saw nobody. However, she heard the sound of shears snipping away at plants. Glimmer stood up and walked down the pathway, following the sound of the pruning. As she walked down the path, she saw a floral arch. She entered through the arch and found herself in an even more beautiful garden. In the corner with her back turned, was a lightly blue-skinned woman. She was clothed in a bright, silver dress. Atop her head was a dark blue head wrap that was endowed with silver chains. Without turning back, the woman took another snip of the olive tree she had been pruning.

"You know, the olive is quite a magnificent fruit. Natural healing properties, rich in iron and fiber," the woman declared. She then plucked an olive from the tree and began munching on it, then added, "not to mention its delectable taste." The woman winked at Glimmer. Glimmer shuddered and squared her body up, preparing for a fight. The woman simply chuckled in response.

"No! Ergh. Who are you?!" Glimmer demanded, pointing an accusing finger at the woman.

"My name is Oracle. I have been watching you for some time, Princess." Oracle declared. Glimmer scoffed.

"I'm not a princess… not anymore…" Glimmer muttered as she loosened her muscles.

"Ah, but you are! I know that you renounced your kingdom because you believed that your mother had rejected Hordak's terms." Oracle declared. Glimmer trembled for a few moments. Oracle then added, "but then you found out that it was not your mother, but rather, the Rebellion's chief general that sent that damning message to Hordak."

"How do you know all that?! Just what do you want with me?!" Glimmer demanded. Oracle smirked then moved over to a bench to sit down. In front of the bench was a little table with a tea set resting atop it.

"Right now, all I want with you is to simply talk." Oracle declared. As a quick afterthought, she added, "and perhaps have some tea?" Oracle suggested. Glimmer eyed Oracle suspiciously but nevertheless acquiesced to her request. As Glimmer sat across from Oracle, she began admiring the garden.

"Where are we? How did I get here from Elberon?" Glimmer demanded. Oracle poured some tea into a little cup then took a sip.

"Why, you're still in Elberon, my dear," Oracle claimed as she took another sip. Glimmer cocked her eyebrow at her and Oracle clarified, "this is a dream. You're still soundly asleep in bed with… Frosta." Oracle said chuckling. Glimmer's cheeks turned bright red and she looked away.

"So, I have some magical stalker, huh…" Glimmer muttered. Oracle smirked.

"Something like that…" Oracle chuckled, "forgive the intrusiveness, but seeing others pasts and futures is intrinsic to my very being. I can't exactly stop it." Oracle admitted. Glimmer leaned back on the bench and folded her arms.

"Alright, get to the point. What did you want to say?" Glimmer demanded. Oracle took another sip of tea then gently placed the ceramic cup on a plate.

"I'm here to warn you about a few things." Oracle began as her glowing yellow eyes stared right into Glimmer's soul. Glimmer shuddered a bit but continued giving Oracle her attention, "first of all, I want you to know that I understand how you feel…"

"How I feel? How I feel?! How could you possibly understand how I feel?! Do you know how it feels to be tortured, betrayed, and completely helpless to stop it? And then you have one faint, glimmer of hope that it's going to be okay… and then the one person you love and trust; you believe that they forsook you? Do you know how that feels?!" Glimmer demanded. Oracle let out a sigh.

"More than you'd think, my child…" Oracle muttered, glumly. Glimmer widened her eyes at Oracle and shuddered. Oracle then directed her eyes at Glimmer.

"I know this might not be much coming from someone you have not previously met before, but for what it's worth, I am sorry for your troubles," Oracle said, sincerely. Although Glimmer did feel a bit of comfort from Oracle's sincerity, she nevertheless kept her scowl.

"Right… okay, get on with it." Glimmer said, impatiently. Oracle cleared her throat and continued.

"The one that is dear to you, Frosta. You must keep a vigilant watch over her on your trip to Mystacor. One of your own plans to… do away with her." Oracle forebode. Glimmer let out a massive gasp and stood up.

"What are you saying?! That one of Night Moon plans to kill her?!" Glimmer demanded. Oracle let out a sigh, closed her eyes then slowly nodded her head.

"I'm afraid so, Glimmer." Oracle declared as she opened her eyes.

"Y...You're lying! Why would one of my own soldiers kill Frosta?! She helped us when we attacked Dryl!" Glimmer accused, "why are you even telling me this?!"

"Because I am trying to save Etheria, Glimmer." Oracle proclaimed, "I am very aware of what the Horde has done to make you like this. I am also aware of the factors that caused Hordak to become the way he is. Most importantly, I know that there is a menace coming that threatens the entire world." Oracle explained. Glimmer sat back down.

"Yeah, that menace is called the Horde." Glimmer muttered. Oracle shook her head.

"I wish it was only the Horde… but this enemy is far worse than the Horde could ever prove to be."

"What could be worse than the Horde?!" Glimmer demanded.

"The progenitors of the Horde. Horde Prime and his empire." Oracle said. Glimmer cocked her eyebrow at Oracle.

"Horde Prime…?" Glimmer wondered.

"I'll explain, but first, I have a question for you: Do you know how the war started?" Oracle inquired. Glimmer opened her mouth to speak, but merely let out a breath of air. In all fairness, Glimmer never actually considered what made the Horde invade Etheria; just that they did. Glimmer then slowly shook her head. Oracle nodded then went on to explain Horde Prime, his empire, how he created Hordak, Hordak's escape and crash-landing on Etheria, Bright Moon taxing Hordak to death, and the war beginning.

Glimmer was rather taken aback by these new revelations. Her mother never spoke of Glimmer's grandmother over-taxing Hordak, and Glimmer would not have cared anyway. All Glimmer knew was what happened in the moment; that is, what she personally experienced from being attacked by the Horde. Nevertheless, Glimmer did feel a hint of comfort and understanding from Oracle. However, this did not sway her feelings towards the Horde.

"Okay, look. Even if everything you said is true, that doesn't excuse what the Horde's done to us!" Glimmer challenged. Oracle nodded.

"You're right. It does not." Oracle admitted, "nevertheless, very soon, all of Etheria; including Night Moon, the Rebellion, AND the Horde will have to put aside their hatred and grudges, and face Horde Prime, together. Mark my words, Princess Glimmer, his arrival is imminent."

"Work… With the…" Glimmer said in utter disbelief, "you want us to work with the Horde?! That is NEVER going to happen." Glimmer snapped.

"It is, Princess Glimmer. I know at the moment that an alliance with the Horde is the last thing you would ever want to be a part of… but I promise you, this alliance will save Etheria." Oracle promised. Glimmer growled at this plan. Oracle continued, "I understand, Glimmer. I know what I am saying sounds unfeasible… but once Horde Prime launches his attack, you will understand." Oracle promised. Glimmer simply leaned back in her chair, folded her arms, and maintained a scowl on her face.

"There is one more thing I need to tell you… about Void." Oracle said. Glimmer cocked her eyebrow and leaned forward.

"And what's that?" Glimmer demanded.

"Void is not who you think she is. Void is- Void. Void is- is- isisisis Vooooid. Double. Void is Void is Trouuuuu- Void." Oracle stuttered as though she had been facing a glitch. Glimmer stood up, moved over to Oracle, and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"What?! Void is what?! Tell me!" Glimmer demanded. Before Oracle could say anything else, she began fading away into nothingness. Simultaneously, the garden surrounding Glimmer also began disappearing. Soon enough, there was nothing. After the ground beneath her feet disappeared, Glimmer began falling into the abyss. She tried to scream, but no sound came from her lungs. However, she started hearing a familiar voice.

"_Glimmer? Glimmer! What's wrong?! Are you okay?! Glimmer!" _The voice demanded.

Glimmer then woke up screaming like a banshee.

"Glimmer! It's okay!" Frosta declared as she reached over to hug her. Glimmer looked around and found herself in her room in Elberon. She slowed her breathing down until it was at a normal rate then hugged Frosta.

"S… Sorry." Glimmer apologized. Frosta broke away from the hug.

"Bad dream?" Frosta inquired.

"...More like a night terror… But, anyway, I'm fine. Let's go back to sleep." Glimmer suggested. Frosta yawned, nodded, then quickly fell back asleep. Glimmer in the meanwhile sat up in bed, hugged her knees, and let out a sigh. Hundreds of thoughts were pervading Glimmer's mind as she considered what she had just experienced.

"_Did Bright Moon really start this war? Is Frosta really in danger? Is Horde Prime really coming to finish what Hordak started?" _Glimmer pondered to herself. However, despite these rather profound questions, there was one question that stayed at the forefront of her mind.

"_Who is Void…?" _

_Meanwhile, back at Dryl… _

Shortly after the trio of girls fell into the hole that led into the Dryllish sewer system, another trio; Bow, Amazona, and Roxy, had gone over to the hole and lowered a rope for the sewer dwellers to climb. Once up, Catra had finally registered that both Bow and Adora were in her presence.

"Okay, seriously, what is going on? I leave you all alone for one day and suddenly we're all friends?!" Catra demanded. Before anyone could respond, another entourage was coming from where the helicopter was. It was Brett, and two squads of Horde and Dryllish soldiers.

"Force Captain, glad to see you made it," Brett said, formally. Catra turned to him and marched up to him.

"Brett, you have three seconds to explain why those two rebels aren't chained up in a prison cell," Catra demanded as she pointed at them while maintaining eye contact with Brett. Brett cocked his eyebrow.

"Ask Brittni, it was her idea," Brett muttered.

"You outrank her! Grrr!" Catra growled, "and aren't you older than her?!" Catra demanded. Brett could not help but chuckle a little bit at that inquiry.

"_Why does everyone think that Brett is older?! We're twins!"_ Brittni protested under her breath.

"Am I the only one that realizes we're in the middle of a war?!" Catra groaned as she put both her hands to her head. Brittni gently pushed passed those in her way and marched up to Catra.

"Catra, look. We came here because this terrorist organization called Night Moon worked with a band of renegade Dryllish soldiers in order to kidnap Entrapta and take over Dryl for themselves." Brittni explained. As soon as Brett heard Brittni say that, his heart sunk lower than rocks at the bottom of the ocean. Adora also gasped, not realizing they got to Entrapta.

"Entrapta… was kidnapped? We need to go get her!" Brett exclaimed. He moved over to Brittni and put his hands on her shoulders, then added, "Brittni. Please, tell me… where did they take her?!" Brittni trembled for a moment and looked away.

"I… I'm not exactly sure…" Brittni admitted, dismally.

"And how is this the Horde's problem?" Catra demanded. Brett glared at her and was about to lash out when Brittni interrupted him.

"Where do I start…" Brittni muttered as she paced around. She stopped then looked at Catra, "for the immediate danger, Entrapta is probably the most intelligent person on this planet. If Night Moon has her, imagine everything she could build for them: combat bots, weapons, armor, you name it!" Brittni explained. Catra mulled her head around considering the danger that could come from Entrapta being held, hostage. Brittni then finished, "but there's even more to this story…" Catra cocked her eyebrow

"Yeah? What's that?" Catra inquired. Brittni let out a sigh.

"This will take a while to explain…" Brittni said. Everybody then gathered around and listened to Brittni explain everything about Oracle, her visions, and most importantly, Horde Prime. There were mixed reactions from the Horde and Dryllish squads. Brett continued to stand with his arms folded, still not completely convinced of everything that was being said. Catra, in the meanwhile, was completely unconvinced from everything that Brittni had claimed.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Catra snapped, "where'd you come up with this stupid story? There's no way-" Catra started before being interrupted by Brittni.

"If you don't believe me, go ask Lord Hordak, yourself!" Brittni snapped back. Catra let out a hiss.

"Fine, I will." Catra accepted. At the behest of Brittni, everyone made their way to the communication center to send a message to the Fright Zone. On the way, Brittni put her hand on Brett's shoulder.

"Hey… we'll get her back." Brittni declared. Brett looked up and smiled for a moment, then looked back down. Although he was incredibly anxious to go and rescue Entrapta, he knew that he had to keep a level head in order to figure out where Entrapta even was.

Catra, Brittni, Brett, and Amazona made their way into the comm room while the rest stayed outside. Everyone figured it best that the two rebels stay outside, as they did not want Hordak to be suspicious of their detachment working with rebels. Once the message was patched through, a grumbly, deep voice was sounded and Hordak's skeletal face appeared on the main screen.

"Force Captain Catra? And I see you've found Saboteur Infiltrator Brett, Nurse Brittni, and Amazona. I trust that the soldiers that I dispatched to Dryl were worth the trouble? The Horde is spread thin as it is." Hordak said, rather impatiently. Catra cleared her throat.

"Lord Hordak, the soldiers were well used… but I have a question." Catra said. Hordak cocked his eyebrow then let out a low, breathy growl.

"And what is that, Force Captain?" Hordak demanded. Catra swallowed hard then posed her question.

"Well, Lord Hordak… Brittni, here told me about some… some being from outer space called Horde Prime?" Catra inquired. The moment that the name 'Horde Prime' escaped Catra's lips, Catra, Brett, and Amazona witnessed an unprecedented expression of Hordak's:

Fear.

Just as Brittni felt the first time she witnessed it, the three Horde soldiers were almost afraid of Hordak's reaction. After all, if this is something that Hordak feared, it must have been incredibly frightening. Hordak attempted to play off his fear by clearing his throat and showing more anger.

"Yes, Horde Prime is a potential threat that we have to consider, but for right now, our focus needs to be destroying the Princess Alliance and their ridiculous Rebellion!" Hordak snapped.

"Lord Hordak, if I may…" Brittni cut in. Hordak let out a groan.

"What IS it, Nurse Brittni?" Hordak demanded.

"Lord Hordak, Night Moon has Entrapta. She's the smartest person on Etheria. With her, they plan on building a portal!" Brittni indicated. Hordak trembled in his growling. For a few moments, he was completely speechless, considering the implications of what it meant for Night Moon to have portal technology and the means to build one. After shuddering for a few moments, Hordak cleared his throat and spoke calmly.

"You're certain they plan on creating a portal?" Hordak inquired. Brittni nodded.

"Yes, my lord. The leader of the Dryllish coup detailed his entire plan, and I downloaded a copy of it. I'll send it to you as soon as I can." Brittni explained.

"See that you do… For now, since Night Moon's attack on Elberon, the Rebellion has become more emboldened; attacking and capturing many of our outposts. We need to halt their advances." Hordak declared, he then asked, "how many soldiers do you have left in your squads?"

"My platoon is at full strength." Catra indicated.

"I lost about half of my platoon." Brett indicated. Hordak hummed for a few moments, pondering what he wanted.

"Brett, get your platoon ready to pull back for reassignment. They will be distributed across the outposts nearest to the most recent Rebellion attacks. As for Catra's platoon, I want you to find this 'Night Moon' and stop them from making a portal. Consider this a life or death situation for this entire planet." Hordak said gravely. He then added, "do you have any idea where they could possibly be building it?" The four in the room switched glances between each other, considering where Night Moon could build such a device.

"Well, the obvious answer is Elberon…" Brett muttered, "but my gut tells me that that's too obvious. Besides, Elberon wasn't a technologically advanced city. It was a trading and farming town." He then turned to Brittni and whispered, "can't you ask Oracle?" Brittni shook her head,

"I'm not sure why, but I haven't been able to get in contact with her. It's really strange… But until she gets back to us, we're on our own." Brittni said glumly while biting her gloved finger, deep in thought. After a few moments, a lightbulb popped in her mind.

"I think I might know how we can find out," Brittni said, grinning. Hordak then cleared his throat, getting the attention of everyone in the room.

"Whatever you plan on doing, get it done quick." Hordak ordered. He then shuddered for a few moments and added, "if Horde Prime were to make it here… I promise all of you that it would be the end for everyone on this planet." Hordak then straightened his neck up and nodded, "alright, you have your assignments, dismissed." And with that, Hordak ended the transmission, leaving the Horde (and Rebellion) soldiers in the dark. The group of three turned to Brittni, awaiting her potential plan.

"We're going to need a Dryllish or Night Moon soldier. There's gotta be at least one red armband loyalist left in the city!" Brittni proclaimed.

"And what is that supposed to accomplish?" Catra demanded impatiently.

"Torture 'em?" Brett suggested. Catra grinned, but Brittni turned to Brett and narrowed her eyes.

"No torture!" Brittni snapped. She groaned then added, "look, just trust me. If I can get my hands on a Dryllish soldier that's loyal to Cairus, I swear I can figure out their plans." Catra rolled her eyes, Amazona remained silent while looking at the floor, but Brett decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. Brett went over to Brittni and put his hand on her shoulder, then turned to the other two.

"Brittni has been right about everything else so far; with Night Moon, Dryl, Elberon. I say we put a little bit of faith in her." Brett affirmed. Brittni smiled at Brett and he winked. Amazona shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, we don't have any other leads. Fine with me." Amazona admitted. Catra groaned.

"Fine, I'll give you an hour or so. If we don't find a lead, we're coming up with a different plan." Catra declared.

"Deal." Brittni agreed. And so, the group exited the communications room and entered the front room where everyone else had been sitting, waiting for a plan. Brittni then explained everything involving Hordak's orders and Night Moon's plans with the portal. In the back of the group of soldiers, a Horde soldier spoke up.

"Okay, so what are we supposed to do? Attack Elberon again?" He asked. Another soldier chimed in,

"Yeah! And why are we working with She-Ra?! She almost killed us!" Another soldier snapped. A resounding disapproval arose among the Horde soldiers. Adora literally backed herself into a corner and sighed.

The same Horde soldier stood up and pointed at Adora, then added, "I say we take her out right now!" Bow, standing next to Adora, brandished his bow and nocked an arrow in it. Adora reached for her sword but felt frightened when a few other Horde soldiers also reached for their energy batons. The one that was pointing at Adora pulled her baton out and was about to fire when Catra lunged towards her from behind, tackling her into the ground, a few feet from Adora.

"Oof! What the-?" The soldier protested. Catra picked herself up off that soldier and stood to face the rest of the soldiers.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Catra snapped. The soldiers that were making a move froze in their tracks and retracted their hands. Catra then added, "Now take your seats and listen to Brittni!" Catra commanded. Per her command, they all took their seats and faced forward. Brittni nodded at Catra in gratitude. Brett, behind Brittni, smirked at Catra's action.

Adora in the meanwhile smiled with a couple of tears streaming down her face. She took a step and put her hand on Catra.

"Thanks, Catra…" Adora said, gratefully. Catra scoffed.

"Eh, if Night Moon really is that bad, I'm gonna need a heavy hitter on my side," Catra said facetiously. Adora chuckled.

Back to Brittni, she went on to explain what everyone needed to do. All Horde soldiers that were a part of Catra's platoon were to fan out and attempt to find any more red armband soldiers. Brett's platoon was to follow Hordak's command and return to the Fright Zone to be distributed amongst their outposts. All that was left in the communications center were the Horde and Rebellion leaders, and the remaining Dryllish soldiers.

"Okay, so how do we know that they aren't all loyal?" Bow inquired. The Dryllish soldiers began muttering amongst themselves and glanced at each other.

"Why are you even detaining us?! This is our kingdom! The Horde has no business here!" One of the Dryllish soldiers snapped. Brett smirked and pressed a button on his armor that played a recording:

"_Oh, Brett! I hope one day you can move here to Dryl! If you decide to stay here, I'll make you my… I dunno, Vice President? Yeah! From now on, you're Vice President of Dryl! I always wanted to switch to a Democratic Republic." _Entrapta's voice sounded over the recording. A wave of groans pervaded the room as Brett ended the recording. Everyone in the room gazed at Brett with confusion.

"She made you Vice President?!" Adora demanded. Catra let out a groan.

"There is seriously something wrong with that girl…" Catra muttered. Brett chuckled.

"Maybe, but her weirdness paid off. Anyway, Brittni, tell us what we're looking for." Brett said. Brittni walked around the Dryllish soldiers that were seated, eyeing them suspiciously. Brittni was looking for something, anything to give off a hint of treachery. It was then she noticed a shining bead of sweat that was slowly gliding down a Dryllish soldier's forehead. Brittni immediately stopped and turned towards him.

"You," Brittni said, pointing at the nervous-looking Dryllish soldier. He looked around and then gazed at Brittni.

"Who, me?" The Dryllish soldier inquired. Brittni moved towards him, scooting passed the other soldiers that were seated. As she moved closer, Brittni could almost feel the guilt radiating from him.

"You're the traitor, aren't you?!" Brittni demanded, grabbing him by his chest plate.

"Whuh?! No! I swear! I'm loyal to Princess Entrapta! Honest!" The guard pled. Brittni glanced behind her for a moment, then turned right back to the soldier.

"A likely story…" Brittni said, coldly. Brett, from the front, was studying the soldier's tone of voice and frequency…

"_He's telling the truth…" _Brett thought to himself, _"can't Brittni sense it?"_ Brittni then dropped the soldier back into his seat then immediately turned towards another soldier to her back left that she had previously glanced at.

"Just kidding. It's you!" Brittni declared. Everyone looked to the soldier who shifted his eyes quickly then immediately stood up with the intention of running. As he ran towards the door, Catra pounced on him, driving him to the ground.

"Ah! Get off!" The guard begged as Catra raised her claws to slash at him. Adora grabbed Catra's hand before it swiped. Catra looked back and hissed, but retracted her claws. By this time, almost everyone in the room had a gun lasered at the red armband. Brittni then moved towards him, snickering.

"How did you know?!" The red armband demanded. Brittni snickered even more.

"Simple." Brittni said, "you can tell how fast a heart is beating just by how much somebody is jittering. The more I spoke of a traitor, the more fidgety you got. However, I couldn't just call you out right then, I needed something else." Brittni explained, "so, I picked some random soldier that was sweating a bit. While I was reprimanding him, I glanced back and saw you breathe a sigh of relief." The red armband shuddered angrily. Brittni then added, "but, your uneasiness wasn't the biggest indicator." Brittni then reached for and pulled a single red thread that had caught on the soldier's pauldron, then held it up for all to see. Everyone but Brett squinted to see what it was.

"Heh, a red thread. Nice eyes, Brittni." Brett said proudly. Catra cocked her eyebrow.

"A red thread? I'm right next to it and I can barely see it!" Catra claimed. Brittni chuckled and looked to Catra.

"Observer Twins." Brittni declared proudly as she winked at Catra. She then turned to the red armband, "time to show us what you know!" Brittni commanded. The soldier began laughing maniacally.

"G'head, torture me for days! By the time I crack, the plan will already have gone through!" The soldier declared.

"Don't tempt us…" Catra muttered as she popped her knuckles.

"That won't be necessary," Brittni stated as she simply placed her hand on the Dryllish soldier's. As soon as this happened, Brittni began to have a vision…

_Meanwhile, with Night Moon on their way to Mystacor… _

Glimmer and Frosta sat in the passenger hold, opposite Cairus. The majority of Night Moon's forces remained at Elberon to defend it, but the most elite Night Moon, Dryllish, and Snow soldiers accompanied their leaders on their way to Mystacor. Entrapta had been placed in an energy cage in the cargo hold. Void was standing at the helm, patiently waiting for their arrival.

"Wondrous, Eternal Mystacor… I haven't been there for over a decade." Void declared as she turned to the passengers. Cairus had his arms folded.

"It'll be my first time… I've heard these sorcerers are not to be trifled with." Cairus cautioned. Void scoffed.

"Please. I was once one of them, they're all icing, no cake. Yeah, they may command elements, but believe me when I say that the majority of them have seen no real combat. This'll be simple." Void declared.

While Void was talking, Glimmer gazed at her while contemplating what she had been told in the vision she received. Most imperatively, Glimmer truly wondered if Void was really her aunt or not. Glimmer shook her head in agitation.

"_Oh, c'mon, Glimmer… you're taking the word of some magical stalker… she's just trying to mess with your head!" _Glimmer reasoned with herself. Still, although she pushed these thoughts down, she still considered what Oracle had declared to her.

Frosta had wrapped her arms around Glimmer's arm as she napped. It had been a long flight, and they still had a little time to go. Glimmer smiled at this action and rested her head atop Frosta's. A few moments later, Void continued:

"Well, we're all clear about the plan, yes?" Void inquired. Everybody gave a thumbs up, signaling their understanding. Glimmer let out a sigh and turned to Void.

"I want to try a diplomatic approach just one more time, Aunt Void." Glimmer beseeched. Void let out a groan and rubbed her currently unmasked face.

"Because that went so well last time?" Void stated, sarcastically.

"Aunt Castaspella would respond differently to me in person… If I go in alone, she won't see us as a threat, and might be more open-minded to giving us the tech." Glimmer explained. Void let out a dramatic sigh. Glimmer ignored it and continued, "we don't have anything to lose. We'll reserve our forces, and if she refuses to help, then we can send in our troops. I think potentially saving our soldiers could be worth the risk."

Void looked around at the soldiers. Some were muttering while others nodded in agreement. Void let out another sigh then slowly nodded.

"Fine, you have one more chance. If she says no, though, we're going to use force. Deal?" Void inquired.

"Deal." Glimmer agreed.

And with that, the flight was not that much longer. Soon enough, the rather large air transport landed on a cliffside that was right underneath Mystacor. Mystacor was a kingdom in the sky that was rendered invisible by the magic that was weaved by the sorcerers that called it home. There was only one way that Glimmer knew how to enter.

At the edge of the cliff, there was an enchanted, floating mound of land that would levitate towards the entrance of Mystacor. As Glimmer jumped on and rode the landmass, she was considering just what exactly she would say to Castaspella. Before her anxiety calmed down, the mound of land pushed against the floating foundation of Mystacor.

Glimmer took a deep breath and stepped onto Mystacor's land. Mystacor was a resplendent city that featured ornate, tall buildings, gardens filled with a multitude of vegetation, and training grounds where aspiring sorcerers could test their mettle. There was always a mystical and majestic feel to Mystacor that helped Glimmer feel at peace. At this moment, however, Glimmer felt nothing but anxiety.

As Glimmer moved closer to the gateway that led inside Mystacor, the sorcerers posted outside stopped their sparring and training when they noticed Glimmer. Most of them were abhorred or shocked by her wardrobe and aura transformation. In particular, Glimmer's glowing purple eyes disturbed many of the sorcerers. Before Glimmer made it to the gate, her aunt Castaspella walked through the gateway to greet Glimmer. Castaspella was a tall woman with black hair tied in a bun. She wore a long purple robe, and adorning her head was a thin, golden crown.

Castaspella was visibly disturbed by Glimmer's countenance and attire. Most especially, she was apprehensive because of Glimmer's behavior of the communication she sent to Mystacor, earlier.

"Glimmer! I… didn't expect you here," Castaspella said, ignoring the tension that was present. Glimmer looked around and saw all the sorcerers gazing at her with fear and contempt. Glimmer attempted to ignore them. She cleared her throat and attempted to smile.

"It's… good to see you, Aunt Castaspella." Glimmer said, attempting to be friendly. Castaspella cocked her eyebrow and folded her arms.

"Is it? We didn't leave on the best of terms over our conversation yesterday." Castaspella claimed. Glimmer let out a sigh.

"I apologize. You're right, I could've been a lot more polite. It's just that we really need-" Glimmer began to say,

"The First One's Tech?" Castaspella finished Glimmer's inquiry, "as I said, we cannot give it to you."

"But why?!" Glimmer demanded a little more angrily than she meant to. Castaspella's eyebrows curved a little towards a glare.

"It should be enough that I said so…" Castaspella sneered, "but if you must know, it's because that First One's technology is unexplored. We have no idea what its code can do. It could be volatile and dangerous, and until we fully study it, we can't let anyone else use it." Castaspella said, firmly. Glimmer grunted low under her breath for a minute. A black fog began emanating from her glowing purple eyes. Before she became overly angry, Glimmer inhaled a deep breath and scoffed. The evil was engulfing her again, and this time she was really going to embrace it.

"If that's the way you want it…" Glimmer muttered. She then turned away from Castaspella, towards the floating mound of land. Castaspella angrily shuddered.

"Where are you going, young lady?" Castaspella demanded. Glimmer stopped and turned her head as if her neck was made of rusted clockwork.

"Don't talk down to me, Castaspella." Glimmer snapped. "If you won't do what needs to be done, then Night Moon will!" Glimmer shouted. She then pressed her earpiece radio and spoke to Void, "the answer is 'no.' You know what to do." A devilish laugh was sent back in response.

"This is going to be a great day…" Void muttered, maniacally. Once she said that the Night Moon airship, along with a small fleet of other smaller airships came into Mystacor's airspace. Castaspella and the other sorcerers trembled in place at their enemies in the sky. Castaspella looked back down at Glimmer, her lip quivering. Glimmer simply flashed an evil grin.

"Next time, just say yes…"


	36. Chapter 36: Mystacor

Chapter 36: Mystacor

Soon after Brittni touched the hand of the red armband, her eyes closed and everything went black. A few moments later, she opened her eyes and found herself lying atop a purple, marble-coated floor. Brittni sat up and rubbed her head, with it feeling as though somebody smashed a bottle over it. The walls of the room she was in were a resplendent white, ornamented with purple trims and fine woodworking. On both sides, flush with the walls were statues of people. Brittni switched glances between each statue, becoming more confused with each glance.

_"Where… am I?"_ Brittni wondered to herself as she picked herself up fully. She was in some kind of hallway, that much she knew. But what hallway was it? Brittni began walking to investigate her current circumstances. As she moved towards the end of the hallway, she stopped at a particular statue. This statue looked eerily familiar to Brittni as she took a closer look.

_"Shadow Weaver…?"_ Brittni thought as she studied the very similar features of the statue. Brittni then noticed the sign above the doorway, indicating what the hallway was. The sign read, 'The Hall of Sorcerers.'

"Sorcerers…?" Brittni said aloud, "I must be in some kind of Rebel installation of some sort…" Brittni concluded. Her pondering would have to pause, however, as voices from the next room sounded through her ears. Brittni moved to the door and put her ear to it.

_"You think that you can change Glimmer back to the way she was? A spineless rebel with no nerve to fight?! She was nothing before she found me! And you will NOT bring her back to that insignificant state!" _A deep, feminine voice shouted. After the shout, Brittni could hear a clattering of metal and ice. Brittni had heard the distinctive ice noise before… it had to have been the powers of that ice princess she had seen at Dryl. Without any more hesitation, Brittni kicked open the door and reached for her laser pistol.

The scene that was playing out before Brittni was a tremendous, one-on-one battle. Sure enough, it was the ice princess, Frosta. Her opponent was… a Horde soldier? This Horde soldier had the moves of a ninja, however. Despite being covered head-to-toe in Horde armor, the soldier was performing backflips, bobbing, weaving, and combat rolls as though they were wearing only clothes. Oddly, the Horde soldier was also only armed with swords.

The room they were fighting in seemed to be the entryway; as it contained costly furniture, extravagant paintings and statues, and a nice tiled floor. In the middle of the room were finely crafted staircases that converged together to the second floor. Although, all of these decorations had been disheveled from the battle that was going on. The battle that Brittni was witnessing was happening on the first floor.

Frosta was firing shards of jagged ice, but each piece was being easily deflected and dodged by the Horde soldier. The Horde soldier ran towards Frosta and narrowly dodged an icy spear that was aimed at their chest. As the spear was flying towards the Horde soldier, the soldier dropped down into a prone position and slid across the tiled floor with their sword aimed to slice Frosta's feet. Frosta quickly formed an ice barrier at her ankles which stopped the blade from hitting her ankles. However, the Horde soldier managed to unsheathe the other sword that was on their back. As they slid passed Frosta, they curved around and were about to plunge the other blade into Frosta's back… until Brittni intervened.

"Stop! Stand down, soldier!" Brittni commanded. Brittni's shouting took both of the combatants by surprise. Frosta narrowed her eyes at Brittni.

"Another Horde soldier?!" Frosta exclaimed. Before she could say anything further, the Horde soldier finished their job by sticking both swords into Frosta's back. The swords ran through Frosta until they were protruding from the front. Frosta let out a frightened gasp, coughed up a large amount of blood, and choked as she attempted to breathe.

"Frosta! No!" Brittni cried out, she then glared at the Horde soldier, "what are you doing?! I told you to stand down!" Brittni growled. Brittni could hear a faint, but devilish chuckle coming from the Horde soldier. In the blink of an eye, the soldier retracted the swords from Frosta's body. Once that was done, Frosta's body fell to the floor, seemingly lifeless. Brittni brandished her laser pistol at the soldier and yelled, "identify yourself!" The Horde soldier's chuckle evolved into a maniacal laugh.

"I think I remember you…" The Horde soldier disclosed, "you're the twin of the one that nearly killed this ice princess." The Horde soldier then switched their gaze from Frosta back to Brittni and added, "how ironic. One twin attempts to kill her, the other attempts to save her."

"Shut up! I told you to identify yourself!" Brittni snapped. The Horde soldier smirked under their helmet.

"Very well…" The Horde soldier said. The next development that took place was something absolutely bizarre. Seemingly out of nowhere, a swarm of darkness with beads of neon green dots began enveloping the Horde soldier. Brittni took a step back in fear.

When the darkness dissipated, there stood Void in her purple and black bodysuit and armor. Brittni gave a widened glare at the apparition before her and shuddered.

"What… What are you?!" Brittni demanded. Void's feminine voice came back as she chuckled.

"Oh, darling… a good magician never reveals their tricks." Void jeered.

"What are you planning on doing, Void? Why do you want the portal technology?!" Brittni continued her demands. Void simply scoffed and put a finger to her cheek.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Void asked, sarcastically. Brittni let out a growl and let her rage take over. Without hesitation, Brittni fired a few rounds off her laser pistol. Something unexpected happened, however. As the lasers flew towards Void… they went right through her as though she weren't there.

"What the-?!" Brittni exclaimed. Void waved her finger back and forth and clicked her tongue.

"Tsk, tsk. Don't you know that you can't harm people in your dreams?" Void inquired. Brittni widened her eyes in surprise.

"...I'm dreaming?" Brittni inquired.

"Ding, ding! Give the girl a prize!" Void said facetiously as she clapped her hands. Brittni growled and began running towards Void. Before Brittni got to her, Void pulled out a small ball and hurled it at the ground. At the point of contact, the ball exploded and emanated a large amount of smoke. Brittni coughed as the smoke permeated her lungs. As the smoke cleared, Void disappeared without a trace.

Brittni scanned the room to find any indication as to where Void had runoff, but there was nothing. No footprints, no noise, nothing. Brittni heard a groan and realized Frost was still alive! She quickly ran over to Frosta and immediately set to work on healing her. Brittni pulled out a roll of gauze and attempted to wrap it around the wounds, but just like her lasers, the gauze seemed to be intangible.

"No, no!" Brittni protested. Just as Brittni was about to lose hope, she heard Frosta cough. Brittni gasped, "Frosta? Frosta! Hang on, I'll find help!" Before Brittni could turn, Frosta grabbed Brittni's wrist. Completely bewildered that somehow Frosta was able to grab her seemingly intangible hand, Brittni looked back to see Frosta slowly lift her head up. She was still coughing up blood but managed to choke some words out.

"Brittni… we're at Mystacor… you still… you still have a chance to stop the portal. And.. And, save Glimmer and… and me...Please… please hurry!" Frosta behested.

"Frosta? Frosta!" Brittni begged as Frosta's hand began turning into dust. Her skin flaked away until there was nothing. Brittni heavily shuddered as she knelt down and witnessed this scene. "No… No!" Brittni screamed as tears began pouring out.

Quick as a flash, Brittni jumped to her feet and began running towards the entrance of the building she was in. She ripped open the door to witness utter destruction happening outside. Buildings were on fire, corpses were piled across the street, Mystacor sorcerers and Night Moon soldiers were battling it out with beams of energy and magic flying all around.

Suddenly, Brittni felt a presence behind her. She immediately whipped around and brandished her laser pistol at the person. She gasped when she realized who it was.

"A...Adora?" Brittni inquired. Adora's countenance looked disturbed and worried. Suddenly, Adora grabbed Brittni by the shoulders and was slightly shaking her.

"Brittni? Brittni, wake up! Wake up!" Adora pleaded with Brittni. Suddenly, everything around the two girls began crashing down, including those they, themselves. Brittni attempted to scream, but her voice would not come out. Brittni screamed harder as she fell faster and slowly her voice became more audible until finally, she opened her eyes and felt a hand clamp over her mouth.

It was Adora!

"A'moruh?!" Brittni inquired, her mouth muffled from Adora's hand. Adora quickly removed her hand and wrapped Brittni in a hug. Brittni looked around. She was in a bed in an unfamiliar bedroom. The room was cluttered with bits of technology, scrap metal, wires, a few computers, and various other gadgetry.

"So, the unconscious prophet finally wakes up," Catra muttered, sarcastically. Brittni looked over and saw that Catra was sitting atop a bookcase with her legs dangling off.

Also in the room were Brett and Bow. Brett was kneeling next to Brittni, while Bow was standing behind Brett a few feet away. Brittni slowly rose up and rubbed her head.

"Here, take this." Bow offered as he handed her a cup of water. Brittni nodded in gratitude and took a few sips.

"Thanks…" Brittni muttered, gratefully. She blinked her eyes a few times and rubbed her head, "ugh, I feel like I got run over by a skiff. What happened?" Brittni inquired. Catra scoffed.

"Well, you touched a guy and went unconscious for a couple of days," Catra muttered. Brittni's eyes widened.

"A couple of days?! What's happened?" Brittni demanded.

"Whoa, easy, Brittni." Brett cautioned as he put his hand on her shoulder. Adora, who was sitting at the end of the bed, spoke up.

"Yeah, you went unconscious and we had no idea what to do," Adora admitted. "We didn't think it would take you this long to wake up." Brett then spoke up.

"Right now, Amazona took a small detachment to scope out Elberon. The place is locked down tight and they've definitely increased their defenses…" Brett said, aggravated. "But, they did manage to pose as wandering merchants."

"A lotta good that did them…" Catra scoffed, "they couldn't find anything about a portal, and Night Moon's leaders weren't there, anyway."

"Please, tell us that you have some good news." Bow inquired of Brittni. Brittni slowly nodded.

"Actually, I do… When I touched that guy, I started experiencing a vision I had never encountered before." Brittni began before being interrupted by Catra.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Catra said as she jumped off the bookshelf, "a vision? Are you kidding me?" Catra demanded in disbelief.

"Hear me out," Brittni advised, "anyway, this vision was… it was like, interactive…" Brittni then went onto explain exactly what happened in the vision. There were different reactions to what Brittni said. Catra continued to remain undeterred from Brittni's proclamations. Bow and Adora were in shock; not only because of Night Moon's attack on Mystacor, but also because of what happened to Frosta. Brett's countenance was as though he had accidentally killed his best friend.

"She… She dies?" Brett inquired with his lip quivering.

"I don't know…" Brittni admitted, "but I think there's still time to stop this from happening!" Brittni said with hope.

"Only one way to find out…" Brett muttered. He stood up and turned to Catra, "Force Captain, I hate to say this but we're a little thin in numbers since Amazona took her squad to Elberon. It's too far from Mystacor to reinforce us on time… but…" Brett then turned to Adora, "what if we had help from the Rebellion?" Adora cocked her eyebrow at Brett.

"What?" Adora, Catra, and Bow exclaimed simultaneously.

"Hold on!" Catra commanded, "the Rebellion?! Did you forget who the enemy is, Infiltration Saboteur?!" Catra demanded, walking towards Brett. Brett groaned.

"Look, I know. I get it. But if Hordak and Brittni really believe that this… this Horde Prime is this serious of a threat, we need to stop that portal from happening." Brett explained. Catra hissed for a moment then looked away. She then let out a heavy sigh.

"Fine," Catra muttered.

"But, Brett…" Bow protested, "even if we manage to get the Rebellion's support; I mean, if they see any Horde soldier's, they'll cut them down.

"Pfft, I'd like to see them try," Catra muttered. Bow and Adora glared at her.

"Not to mention that if we were to even attempt to tell Queen Angella about working with the Horde, she would think that we'd gone absolutely insane… she'd never listen to us." Adora chimed in.

"They've got a point," Brett said, putting a finger to his mouth in thought. He paced around for a few moments then took a look outside and saw some Dryllish soldiers attempting to maintain order. "... what if we were to have our soldiers disguise themselves as Dryllish soldiers? Maybe tell the Bright Moon queen that Dryl wants to get their princess back?"

"That's a good idea. Bow and I can go send that transmission out now!" Adora said.

"Okay, great," Brett said as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together, "okay, in the meanwhile, I can go gather all our soldiers and have them change into Dryllish armor," Brett said.

And with that, Brett, Bow, and Adora left the room, leaving only Brittni and Catra. There was an awkward silence between the two. Brittni sat up in the bed while Catra leaned against a wall.

"You miss her, don't you?" Brittni inquired. Catra widened her eyes and turned to Brittni.

"What are you talking about?" Catra demanded. Brittni chuckled.

"Catra, throughout our lives growing up in the Fright Zone, I've unintentionally and… well, intentionally noticed your complete infatuation with Adora." Brittni explained.

"Oh, my gaw… seriously? You really want to talk about this right now?" Catra groaned. Brittni giggled a bit.

"I mean, we have time, so why not?" Brittni inquired.

"Because it's none of your business!" Catra snapped.

"Maybe not…" Brittni admitted, "but apart of my medical training was mental health." Brittni explained. Catra cocked her eyebrow at Brittni.

"What? Mental health? How did that get approved in the Horde medical academy?" Catra demanded.

"Heh, it actually didn't… I found a dusty old book hidden in Keirnan's library." Brittni explained. Catra shook her head.

"Nevermind that, why are you even asking me about this?" Catra demanded, walking over to Brittni.

"Because…" Brittni started, looking away for a moment. She let out a sigh, then looked back at Catra, "because you two are my friends."

The moment that Catra heard 'friends' come from Brittni's mouth, she trembled. Catra had very rarely heard the term 'friend.'

"F...Friends? W...What makes you think that we're friends?!" Catra snapped, looking away.

"Slight stutter and diverting gaze? Catra, you don't need to be on the defensive… we're not in the Fright Zone and nobody else is around-" Brittni began before being interrupted by Catra.

"You think I care about whether anyone is around to hear us?!" Catra exclaimed, she then growled and began pacing around the room, "You wanna do the psychobabble? Alright, fine! Here you go: I've lived an incredibly hellish life. Shadow Weaver played favorites with Adora and always brushed me aside. Because of the way she treated me, everyone else seemed to follow suit! No matter what I did, nothing was ever good enough for anyone… Everybody saw me as a burden even when I was just a kitten!... So…" Catra sighed, stopped pacing, and looked down, "so I acted out… I thought I could find happiness in having a little fun… but the more I tried to do that, the more hate I got…" A single tear began streaming down Catra's eye. She then walked over to the bed and sat at the foot of it, clasping her hands together.

"I was picked on by so many… I remember one time during training, I did really well and managed to secure an objective while also taking out the princess bots. After the training, Adora had to leave early. I was on my way to the locker room when Lonnie and a few of her lackeys cornered me. I asked them what their problem was and they claimed I cheated. I tried to walk away but one of the bigger ones shoved me against a wall. I was going to fight back but they all started hitting me… I tried so hard to get them to stop, but I was too fatigued and beat up… there was nobody there to help me… I was alone. Alone and scared…" Catra sighed and a little sob came out. After a few moments she continued, "After they left, I laid there for an hour just… just crying." Catra began trembling as many more tears began streaming down her face.

"I just…" Catra began, with a few more tears steaming out, "I just wanted people to accept me… or at least not hate me." Catra said, choking on a sob. After a few moments of her sucking up her emotions, she continued, "But… Adora… she was the one that was always there. If I did have those bad days, she was there to comfort me and listen to me vent."

"But then she left…" Brittni said, finishing Catra's monologue.

"...Yeah…" Catra said, trying to stifle a sob.

"Oh, my… Catra, I… Catra, I'm so sorry." Brittni said, genuinely, "I… I've been wanting to talk with you about this for a while… I just wish I had asked about this sooner." Catra turned to Brittni with her eyes red and her cheeks puffy.

"Oh, yeah? You've had our entire lives to talk about this, but you never cared! The only thing you ever cared about was being the top of your class at the medical academy and being the best! The only one that's ever cared about me is Adora!" Catra said, choking on more sniffles, "and then she left… and I… I had nobody!" Catra exclaimed. She then began sobbing, tears falling like a waterfall.

At that moment, Brittni felt absolutely terrible. After all, Catra had made some good points. Although it was not Brittni's responsibility or obligation to be friends with Catra, she nevertheless felt that she could have tried a little harder to be there for her.

"You're right, Catra…" Brittni began with a few tears of her own streaming down her cheeks, "I did bury myself in my academy work and career… I was so passionate about being the best that I didn't take the time to help others." Brittni admitted, somberly, "it's ironic. I spent so much of my time learning how to help people that I didn't stop to actually… help people that were right in front of me." Brittni said wiping her tears. Brittni sat up, reached over to Catra, and put her hand on Catra's shoulder.

"Catra… I know that I can't change the past, and I admit I did see some signs of how you were feeling. I admit I was a little afraid of you… I mean, at the surface level, anyway. But, inadvertently, I knew deep down that all of your lashing out at others and always putting yourself out there… you just wanted people to notice you; even if it was negative attention." Brittni said with a sigh, "but you're right. I definitely could have been better. I know it might not mean much now… but for what it's worth, I'm sorry." Brittni said crying a little bit. She then added, "but maybe… Maybe I can help fill that void? Maybe we can… be friends?"

For possibly the first time ever in Brittni's life, she saw Catra's face change from something other than a scowl. Although it was incredibly uncharacteristic of Catra; because of all of her repressed feelings of anger and hatred, Catra actually managed to crack a smile and give a little nod. If there were an illustrated allegory to represent exactly what was happening at this moment, it would go something like this:

Because Catra had been bullied most of her life, she had slowly but surely built a strong brick wall surrounding her from all sides. Any attempt from anyone trying to pierce the wall caused Catra to strengthen the wall with continued anger and bitterness. Instead of trying to break through the wall, somebody had to talk to Catra through the wall until she decided to unlock the door and let the person in. In this instance, Catra allowed this to happen.

Brittni could not be happier at this moment, though. She coughed a little bit from all the emotion that was surging through her body which manifested itself in a hug that Brittni wrapped around Catra. Admittedly, Brittni knew that this was a risky move. On one hand, Catra could have accepted the hug and been happy with it; on the other hand, Catra could have sliced Brittni's face open with her claws. Lucky for Brittni, it was the former that happened. The two girls hugged as though they had been best friends their entire lives. Together, they both cried; Catra, at that moment, felt years of pain being released in the form of tears while Brittni felt tears of guilt being released. Nevertheless, both had begun to feel better.

"Thank you… Brittni." Catra whispered as she held her close. Brittni squeezed a bit tighter.

"You can thank me by telling Adora how you feel…" Brittni teased. Both girls chuckled and pulled away.

"After this war is over." Catra jeered.

"I'm holding you to it." Brittni jeered back.

_Meanwhile, at the communications center with Adora and Bow… _

Adora and Bow had patched their transmission through to Bright Moon, and Queen Angella was rather quick to respond. Once her face came on the screen, the two rebel leaders saw just how anxious Angella had become.

"Bow? Adora? Are you all alright? Where have you two been?! Did you find Glimmer?!" Angella demanded, firing off multiple questions at once.

"...That's a long story." Bow admitted as he rubbed his shoulder.

"Then give me the short version…" Angella said impatiently. Adora nodded.

"Well, it's like this…"

Adora then went on to explain everything. Their trip to Elberon, Glimmer killing Arya, her joining Night Moon, their attack on Dryl, the abduction of Entrapta, and now their attack on Mystacor. Queen Angella's face could not look paler than it did at that moment. Between the mountain of information that was just dumped on her, the most disheartening revelation was of her daughter performing evil acts.

"Glimmer… Glimmer, what have you done…" Angella muttered to herself, as she looked away hiding her tears. After a few moments Angella looked back at the screen with a desperate expression, "please, tell me… is there any hope for my daughter? Please tell me we can bring her back!" Angella cried out. Adora looked down, let out a sigh then looked back up.

"I have to be pragmatic about this, Your Highness… it doesn't look that way." Adora admitted, glumly. Queen Angella could not hold back her tears any longer. She began sobbing uncontrollably into her hands for a few minutes. Adora and Bow remained silent. After those few moments, Angella took a deep breath.

"Alright… thanks to our raids on the Horde outposts, we've been able to secure a hefty amount of resources from the Horde. I can send a platoon of some of our elite soldiers. I'll contact the other princesses and see if they can lend any aid…" Angella said, almost dismally.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Adora said, gratefully.

"I just have one request…" Angella began.

"We'll do what we can to bring her back, Your Majesty," Bow promised, anticipating her request. Angella choked on another sob and nodded her head.

"Thank you…" Angella said, sniffling. Her face then became more serious, "now, if Night Moon is attacking my Sister-in-Law's home, I want you to head there right away. We'll see you at Mystacor." Angella said, determinedly. The two other rebel leaders nodded and ended the transmission.

"Okay, " Adora said, "let's get ready to head out…

_Meanwhile, back at Mystacor… _

To say that the citizens of Mystacor were unprepared for an attack would be an incredible understatement. For generations, the magic users relied upon their mystical cloak from being up in the sky surrounded by clouds. But once the sorcerers witnessed the Night Moon airships appear in their sky, it seemed apocalyptic.

As a warning shot, the front cannon that was mounted below the main airship's hull slowly ignited. Once it was fully charged, a blast of orange energy discharged towards one of the tall sentry towers of Mystacor. Once the energy made contact with the tower, right below the roof, chunks of concrete flew in all directions and the dome collapsed through the wall, completely knocking it down.

The nearby sorcerer's gazed in absolute horror at the trepidation they had just found themselves in. Panic had begun pervading Mystacor as the sorcerers that were still outside ran for the gate into the faux safety of the cloud castle.

Castaspella's lips quivered in anguish at what had just transpired. She switched her gaze from the tower towards Glimmer who had turned to face her.

"Change your mind?" Glimmer inquired, facetiously. Castaspella's widened eyes had curved into a glare.

"Glimmer! How could you do this?! What is wrong with you?!" Castaspella demanded. Glimmer scoffed.

"I didn't do this. You did. Now, if you hand over the First One's technology, we'll be on our way." Glimmer sneered. Castaspella continued to gaze at Glimmer in unbelief. The two fixed their gaze with severe contempt with one another. Castaspella let out a sigh and began removing her robe. Underneath her robe was a purple wrapped shirt tied with a kimono. At this moment, Glimmer knew that Castaspella was ready for battle.

Castaspella moved her hands around in the air as though she were drawing symbols. Indeed, as she moved her hands around, a trail of tangible light followed. Through her studies at Mystacor, Glimmer knew that Castaspella was binding hard-light armor to her body.

Glimmer could hear a sound coming from the airship. She recognized it as the main cannon charging up to fire another energy blast. Glimmer simply held up her hand in protest to the airship's cannon. She then got on the radio.

"Save the cannon's energy. We came for the First One's tech. Start landing the troops and have them search all of Mystacor… I'll deal with Castaspella." Glimmer muttered. A sigh was heard in response from Void.

"_Well, I was hoping to settle my score with her, but I suppose we have to put the mission first." _Void said over the radio. _"Okay, you heard my niece; everyone get going!" _ And with that, the various airships landed on the ground. Clusters of Night Moon, Kingdom of Snows, and Red Armbands poured out of the transports, wielding weapons of their respective faction. To Castaspella's left and right, the collective Night Moon soldiers charged towards the gate. Castaspella performed a few more hand signs. Soon enough, lights began emanating from the palms of Castaspella's hand. As they grew brighter, a discharge of magical energy fired from her hands in a straight line that she pointed at either side of herself. Those that were caught in her line of fire were killed or severely injured, as the magical energy burned through them.

Glimmer growled at what Castaspella had just done. She attempted to conjure her purple aura to surround Castaspella, but her hard-light armor simply blockaded it. Some of the soldiers that had avoided Castaspella's attack began firing upon her with their lasers. With quick reflexes, Castaspella performed more hand signs in a circular motion. When she finished, two large hard-light shields were summoned and she ducked down, using the shields to protect herself. The lasers that were flying towards the summoned shields simply ricocheted off towards other Night Moon soldiers, cutting many more down.

"Forget her! Just get to the gate!" Glimmer commanded. Per her command, the soldiers ignored Castaspella and continued running towards the gate to get into the town. Castaspella turned towards the stampeding soldiers that had run passed her and was about to conjure up more energy blasts. Before that happened, however, she felt a large mass being thrown at her back.

"Oof!" Castaspella cried out as she fell to her knees. The hard-light armor managed to protect her, but she looked back to see what had caused it. There, Glimmer was standing around twenty feet away holding a chunk of concrete in her purple aura that had fallen from the tower. Castaspella grimaced at this action but swiftly picked herself back up. The Night Moon soldiers that made it to the gate rammed it open, and poured inside the cloud castle to search for the First One's technology.

Glimmer raised her hands above her sides, and as she did, a bundle of concrete chunks began levitating in the purple aura and slowly revolved around her. Glimmer threw her hands one at a time, and as she did so, flurries of the concrete chunks flew towards Castaspella. Castaspella held up her shields and managed to block each concrete chunk that flew towards her. However, Glimmer's strikes were quite powerful and each chunk of concrete that hit Castaspella's shields weakened it and pushed her back. As Castaspella was trying to hold off Glimmer's onslaught, Glimmer crept ever closer until she was within a couple of feet away.

Glimmer then focused her purple aura to her right fist and hurled it towards Castaspella. With the energy being poured into her fist, Castaspella's shield shattered and dissipated. Glimmer cocked her arm back to punch Castaspella again, which Castaspella blocked again with her shield… only for her shield to disintegrate as well. With only her hard-light armor protecting her body, Glimmer again re-focused her aura into her fist to break the armor. As her fist launched towards Castaspella's chest, Castaspella quickly performed more hand signs. When she performed the hand signs, she sucked in some air and blew out an incredibly cold breath. The ice breath had completely frozen Glimmer's aura-immersed hand.

"Agh!" Glimmer winced in pain as the ice quickly burned her hand. Castaspella then did the same hand signs to blow more ice breath at Glimmer's other hand, but Glimmer rolled to the right, out of the way, while simultaneously pulling more concrete from behind Castaspella towards her head. Using her aura, Glimmer launched the concrete chunks to the back of Castaspella's head. Again, the hard-light protected her, but it also distracted her While Castaspella's attention was averted towards the concrete chunks, Glimmer slammed her fist that had been coated with ice against the ground. She screamed in pain as the ice broke, but she did manage to move her hands again. Glimmer then decided to test out the new move she had been working on. She put her hands together and slowly pulled them apart. As they pulled apart, a surge of dark purple electricity began surging between her hands. Castaspella refocused on Glimmer and realized that she was generating electricity. Because of her command of the elements, Castaspella was able to emulate that trick as well.

After a few hand signs, Castaspella also generated a ball of electricity. The two then stared down at each other; one angry, one disappointed. Nevertheless, they both had a mission, and at this point, all they could do was fight. With that, both of them hurled their balls of electricity, both balls flying at super speeds. Once the two balls of electricity converged, they began spinning faster and faster until…

BOOM.

A tumultuous shockwave produced from the two balls of electricity blew both Aunt and Niece several feet away from each other. Glimmer was injured from the blast that launched her onto the ground, while Castaspella's hard-light armor began disintegrating.

The two women groaned as they slowly picked themselves up. Castaspella got up first and coughed a few times.

"Is this… is this really what my niece has become?" Castaspella demanded with a tear streaming down her eye, "Glimmer… why? Why are you doing this?! And who are those people?! The Rebellion would never attack its own people! How could you do this?!" Glimmer simply scoffed.

"Oh, Auntie…" Glimmer started as she fully stood up, "I quit the Rebellion long ago… I'm Night Moon, now. And we're an actual threat to the Horde." Glimmer jeered. Castaspella pointed an accusatory finger at Glimmer.

"You've become a greater threat than the Horde ever was!" Castaspella snapped. The moment Castaspella made that declaration, Glimmer felt something stirring in her heart. It was an amalgamation of several emotions; surprise, rage, but most importantly… guilt. Castaspella then continued, "if you're so fixated on destroying the Horde, then why are you here?! These are your friends, I!... I… I'm your aunt… how could you do this?!" Castaspella once again demanded. Castaspella did make good points. The guilt that Glimmer was feeling suddenly escalated passed the rage she was feeling. Maybe she was beginning to realize how far she had fallen. Nevertheless, Glimmer tried to save face. She shook her head and snapped back.

"Well, again, if you had just handed over the tech, none of this would have happened!" Glimmer snapped, "Aunt Void was right, you Mystacor types never did anything to help the Rebellion!" Castaspella cocked her eyebrow for a moment and loosened her muscles.

"Aunt Void…?" Castaspella inquired.

"Aunt Starr! Whatever her name was before you cast her out!" Glimmer snapped. Castaspella completely loosened her muscles and stared hard at Glimmer.

"Aunt Starr… Angella's sister?" Castaspella inquired.

"Yeah! The one you cast out!" Glimmer repeated. Castaspella looked absolutely confused at what Glimmer was suggesting.

"Aunt Starr…" Castaspella echoed as she wrapped her head around what Glimmer was saying. "When did Aunt Starr tell you this?" Glimmer gave Castaspella a puzzled look.

"I dunno! Like, a day or two ago, why?!" Glimmer demanded.

"Glimmer…" Castaspella began, "Glimmer that's impossible.

"How is that impossible?!" Glimmer demanded.

"Because…" Castaspella said taking in a deep breath.

"Aunt Starr died almost a decade ago…"


	37. Chapter 37: Who is Void?

Chapter 37: Who is Void?

_"Aunt Starr died almost a decade ago…" _Those words seemed to mockingly dance around Glimmer's brain as they pervaded her thoughts.

"What are you talking about?!" Glimmer demanded, "Aunt Void- Er, Aunt Starr is the one leading Night Moon!" Castaspella stared hard at Glimmer, while she was also catching her breath.

"I'm telling you, Glimmer, Aunt Starr died fighting the Horde almost ten years ago. She's part of the reason why Mystacor has been… reclusive." Castaspella explained.

"You're… You're lying! You're just trying to confuse me! It won't work!" Glimmer snapped. Castaspella's hard-light armor was damaged enough at this point that Glimmer's aura found an opening. Glimmer raised her fists towards Castaspella and launched her aura right at her aunt's throat. The unholy energy began wrapping tightly around Castaspella's neck leaving a little bulge of skin straining under the aura. Castaspella grabbed her neck, attempting to release herself from the aura, but it was intangible. Glimmer then used the aura to slowly lift Castaspella up as she moved towards her aunt.

"G...limm...er! P...lease!" Castaspella choked out as she reached a pleading hand towards her. "I'm… tel...ling...truth…" Glimmer had half the mind to close her fists, thus snapping Castaspella's neck, but there was something in Castaspella's confusion and pleading… and Oracle's warning that made Glimmer consider what Castaspella was saying. She reasoned that all of these factors combined could not be a coincidence. Glimmer grunted and loosened the aura around Castaspella. Castaspella fell on her hands and knees and began gasping for air, her breaths sounding high pitched from being choked. Glimmer growled, moved within inches of Castaspella, and picked her up by her wrapped shirt.

"If Aunt Starr really died, tell me what she looks like!" Glimmer commanded. Castaspella coughed a few more times and sucked in as much air as she could, then answered.

"She… had light purple-tinted skin, and looked just like your mother… though a little shorter. One distinctive thing about her was she was much more interested in swords and acrobatics than magic. Though she did have some power from the Moonstone." Castaspella explained. Glimmer widened her eyes.

"Light purple skin… same face as my Mom… swords, acrobatics…" Glimmer repeated, starting to put together the pieces.

"The most distinguishing feature is her creepy masks… they were these purple masks ornamented with different jewels and painted lips." Castaspella explained. Glimmer widened her eyes even further and her lips began quivering. Both women looked at each other in complete desperation.

At that moment, Glimmer began to have some clarity. She suddenly was able to see the fear and anguish that was present on Castaspella's countenance. She looked over at the Kingdom of Mystacor; it had been damaged severely from Night Moon's attack. There were various fires that were spreading, and buildings were crumbling from Night Moon's airship cannons. Glimmer also opened her ears and truly heard the screams and cries that were coming from within Mystacor's walls. She switched her glance back to Castaspella to see tears streaming down her cheeks.

Although Glimmer was in the right that Mystacor's neutrality was detrimental to the Rebellion's cause, she realized that this did not merit a slaughter of its people and the destruction of its kingdom. Worst of all, it was not the Horde's doing… rather it was hers. Glimmer began shuddering and trembling with great trepidation. She also began to think about everything else she had been doing.

Flashbacks of Elberon, when the Horde civilians were running in absolute terror from her began appearing in her mind. The face of the mother that was twisted in fear that begged for her life for the sake of her children. Not to mention how she actually tried to kill her former best friends.

Next, she thought about when they had kidnapped Entrapta from her kingdom, and when she had sent She-Ra… Adora… out to slaughter not only the Horde, but Dryllish soldiers that were caught in the crossfire. This whole time, Glimmer had become the very thing she set out to destroy. She became a vengeful, ruthless, murderer that only cared for her own agenda rather than Etheria.

"What… what have I done…" Glimmer said, beginning to realize the extent of the damage that she perpetuated. She then took her hands off of Castaspella, dropped to her knees and began sobbing. Castaspella was taken aback by Glimmer's sudden transformation but knelt down next to her. Glimmer looked up, her eyes completely glossy from all the tears. The sclera in her eyes changed from black to white, and her eyes were no longer glowing. Castaspella took note of this change and merely put her hands on Glimmer's shoulders. Glimmer then spoke up more.

"Aunt… Auntie Casta…" Glimmer spoke in a rather soft voice, "I… I'm sorry… I'm… I'm so, so, sorry!" Glimmer beseeched. She was completely bawling at this point. Although at this moment, Castaspella could have reprimanded, scolded, or even struck Glimmer… she didn't. Instead…

She wrapped her arms around her.

"I forgive you, my niece," Castaspella assured her. Glimmer returned the hug and buried her face in Castaspella's chest.

"Well! Isn't this touching!" A very familiar, unwanted voice appeared. Glimmer and Castaspella turned their heads towards the source.

"Void…" Glimmer muttered. Void was standing around fifteen feet away from the Aunt and Niece upon a grassy mound.

"Nothing gets past you, my niece… Though I must admit, I'm incredibly disappointed in you. You were so close to killing her off… but, I guess if you want something done right..." Void said, coldly. Glimmer stood up and swiftly wiped the tears from her eyes. She then pointed an accusatory finger at Void and growled.

"You… You…! Who are you?!" Glimmer demanded. Void put her hand to her mask and began a low chuckle that evolved into a loud chuckle, then into maniacal laughter.

"Does it really matter?" Void exclaimed, "have you forgotten the mission, Glimmer? About destroying the Horde?!" Glimmer let out a groan and shook her head.

"No, I didn't… but it took nearly killing my Aunt for me to realize how low I've stooped." Glimmer muttered.

"Ha!" Void cackled, "I always saw you as the 'bigger picture' kind of person. After all, who's the one that led the charge against Dryl? Who's the one that opened the gates of Mystacor? I'll give you a hint, her name begins with a G, and she's getting on my last nerve!"

"Just tell me who you are!" Glimmer demanded.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that we're going to open the portal. We're going to infiltrate the Fright Zone. And we're going to put Hordak's head on a pike." Void sneered. Void front-flipped off of the mound a couple of feet towards Glimmer, "I don't understand what your problem is, Glimmer. After all, I've done for you, and this is how you thank me?" Void accused.

"You've been manipulating me from the beginning! To you, I was just a tool, a weapon! You never cared about me, you only cared about furthering your own goals!" Glimmer snapped.

"Our goals were the same! All that either of us wanted is the Horde destroyed!" Void snapped back.

"But the way we did it… it wasn't right! We've killed so many innocent people!" Glimmer protested. Void let out a disappointed growl.

"And whose fault is that? You really think I manipulated you? You were the one that was so bloodthirsty and vengeful towards the Horde, all I had to do was point at a target and say, 'this'll help us destroy the horde,' and you were on it like a nuke being launched at a bulls-eye. Don't even try to deny it!" Void growled.

Unfortunately, Void made good points. After all, Glimmer had become so engulfed in her vindictive rage that the repercussions meant almost nothing to her. Void did come up with the plans, but Glimmer was always the one to execute them in the darkest method. Glimmer could only shudder and let out a sigh.

"Maybe you're right…" Glimmer said, softly, "maybe I was so enraged that I felt that I had to get back at the Horde by any means necessary…" Glimmer began shedding more tears. "But, I don't want to be that way anymore! That Glimmer has nearly cost me, my soul…" Void simply scoffed and shook her head.

"Save your sanctimony, Glimmer. We're on the winning side." Void sighed, "Listen, I'll give you one more chance to make this alright. Night Moon could still use you, so here's your ultimatum: Take back everything you just said and kill Castaspella. Your only choice right now is whether you want to be a part of the group that wins or the one that loses. Make your choice." Void said. Glimmer stared hard at Void's mask, then switched her gaze to Castaspella.

"I can't keep doing this… I can't keep hurting people." Glimmer said. Void let out a scoff, then a deep sigh.

"That's a shame, Glimmer. I was actually starting to really like you." Void said, facetiously, "but again, if you're not with me, you're my enemy." Void then unsheathed one of the swords from her back. Glimmer was about to charge up the aura in her fist to throw a lightning ball at Void, but Void was much quicker. She hurled a kunai with perfect accuracy at the Glimmer's palm. Glimmer let out a pained exclamation as she held her hand.

Castaspella then took action. She drew some of her hand signs in the air, sucked in a large amount of air, and then blew it towards Void. The breath of air came out of Castaspella's mouth like a whirlwind. The whirlwind took Void by surprise and she was flung away, passed the grass mound and rolled backward quite a few times. Finally, she stopped her motion on her back.

"Ugh…" Void groaned as she picked herself up. She then unsheathed her other sword and ran towards the two with her swords flying behind her. Glimmer had just pulled the kunai out of her hand and Castaspella was trying to use magic to stabilize the wound.

The two then noticed Void running at them. Castaspella gently pushed Glimmer back and performed more hand signs. Void knew exactly what they were. Castaspella aimed both her palms at Void and fired beams of energy from her palms. Void smirked under her mask and brandished her swords in front of her. Once the energy was within melee range, Void sliced the energy right before it made contact with her. The energy blast seemed to not only be stopped but even deflected from Void's blades, as the energy blasts were headed right back towards Glimmer. Castaspella gasped as she knew what was about to happen. Just before the beams of energy hit Glimmer…

Castaspella jumped in front of her… taking the hit…

Castaspella's selfless act seemed to happen in slow motion. At that moment, Glimmer felt in her heart that perhaps she deserved; maybe even needed to get hit by those energy blasts. For a moment, she accepted her fate. But Castaspella knew better. Glimmer was much stronger both in will and power than she could ever hope to be. Nevertheless, when it happened, Glimmer let out a long shriek of despair.

"Aunt Casta! No!" Glimmer exclaimed as Castaspella fell backward into her arms. Glimmer embraced her dying aunt like a mother losing their child.

"Glimmer… it's okay… you… you were right. Mystacor…" Castaspella began before shifting the blame to herself, "no, not… not Mystacor. I… I was wrong. We… we should have helped fight the Horde… I'm sorry…" Castaspella coughed.

"No! Aunt Casta, you're going to make it! Please!" Glimmer begged. Castaspella simply chuckled and shook her head.

"I don't think so… but, whatever's left of Mystacor… please, save them." Castaspella requested. Glimmer nodded while sniffling.

"I will, Auntie…" Glimmer promised. Castaspella put her hand to Glimmer's cheek.

"Glimmer… I love you." Castaspella wheezed out before exhaling her last breath.

"No… No! Auntie! Please don't die!... No… this is all my fault…" Glimmer sobbed. While all this was happening, Void was standing afar off with her arms folded.

"You know, Glimmer. It's like she said, Mystacor didn't even help with the war effort. You're basically losing nothing here." Void said, facetiously. Glimmer turned her gaze to Void. The sclera in Glimmer's eyes turned black again and her eyes glowed a deep purple.

"You… You!" Glimmer shouted, "I'll kill you!" Void scoffed and pointed her sword at her.

"Come on, then." Void challenged...

_Meanwhile, the Horde makes their move via helicopter towards Mystacor… _

Brett and Catra sat in the cockpit with the pilot while everyone else sat in the passenger hold. Everybody was on edge with the thought of Night Moon opening up a portal. Brittni explained to the soldiers the urgency with this mission. If Night Moon could manage to open up a portal, they would be able to allow Horde Prime and his military through. Although this did raise the soldiers' anxiety, it also raised their determination to soldier forth in stopping this from happening.

The airship was coming up to Mystacor. When it was within around a mile away, the passengers within the airship could hear explosions coming from Mystacor.

"Sounds like Night Moon's already made their move…" Catra surmised. Bow and Adora stood up and moved to the cockpit. Soon enough, they flew past the clouds that shielded Mystacor. Once they made it past the clouds, however, they would almost wish they hadn't. Mystacor was in flames. Towers had been toppled over, walls in buildings had been blown open with green energy indenting each hole. Corpses littered the streets, both Night Moon and Mystacor. The most distinguishing feature, however, was a large cylindrical wall of light that was emitting from the main building.

"What is that…?" Bow inquired.

"Whatever it is… it ain't good." Brett said. Catra tapped her chin in thought.

"Alright, we're going to want to land quickly to get our troops in the building." Catra explained. She then turned to the helmsman, "I want you to cover our troops as we head inside Mystacor."

"You can count on me, Force Captain." The helmsman nodded. On their way to land, Brittni, who was sitting on the left side, looked out the passenger window. She widened her eyes in a panic when she saw what was coming at them.

"Oh, no…" Brittni said, gravely, "hey! We've got two fighter ships coming at us-" Brittni began to say before the hull of the ship took two laser cannon blasts. Everybody in the ship groaned and shook. Some flew out of their seats.

"Grrr… Helmsman! Get this landed, now! And somebody get on the machine laser!" Catra commanded. The pilot nodded and shifted downwards. The lasers kept coming, however. One of the soldiers quickly moved to the machine laser while another slid the passenger door open. Once they were in range, the soldier manning the laser let it loose, with quick successions of lasers flying out of the barrel. One of the fighters was easily taken down with the machine laser, via losing its turbines. However, this fighter was going to be a kamikaze. With little maneuverability that he had left, the Night Moon pilot steered his fighter towards the airship. Brett took quick notice and yelled:

"Helmsman! Go down! Fast!" Brett commanded. The helmsman pushed the cyclic stick as far down as he could, but it was not fast enough. The Night Moon fighter crashed into the side of the airship, ripping off the turbine. The airship began spinning out of control. The passengers aboard began panicking at their plight, wondering what to do. Brittni took a deep breath to maintain her composure and looked outside. She calculated the speed of the airship spinning, the trajectory of their plummet, and how quickly they were falling.

"We need to go towards the cockpit!" Brittni yelled. Not wanting to argue, everyone within the passenger hold pushed and shoved their way towards the front. Soon enough, the airship spiraled… spiraled… until finally, the backend slammed into the ground, skidding forward with pieces of the airship flying in different directions. After a minute or so, the airship stopped its motion and laid flat on the ground. Despite all this trouble, everyone aboard managed to survive… that's not to say without injury, however.

Some of the soldiers did end up breaking legs, arms, and other parts of their bodies. Fortunately, that was the extent of the damage. Brett, Catra, the Helmsman, Adora, and Bow were wedged in the cockpit, while everyone else that attempted to reach the cockpit was sprawled out over the rest of the airship. Brittni groaned as she picked herself up.

"Everybody okay?" Brittni inquired. A series of groans were muttered in response. Brittni picked herself up, more or less fine from her armor protecting her. She looked over at the passenger door and walked over a couple of soldiers to get to it. She attempted to open it, only to realize it had been sealed shut from being hit by the kamikaze. Brittni looked towards the cockpit.

"The passenger door is broken in. I can't open it!" Brittni explained. Brett, picking himself up rubbed his head.

"Ugh, one thing after another…" Brett muttered.

"Well… if you can't use the exit… make one." Adora said, unsheathing her sword. She then shouted, "for the honor of Grayskull!" Once she made her dramatic transformation to She-Ra, she moved to the back where the airship was and squared her body up.

"Hyah!" She-Ra shouted as she lifted up her right leg and threw the bottom of it at the passenger door. The moment her foot made contact with the door, it broke off its hinges and flew around ten feet away. She then took a few steps outside only to be shot at by the fighter. She-Ra let out a gasp and quickly transformed her sword into a shield, successfully deflecting the shots.

"I got this!" Bow shouted as he ran up from behind She-Ra and nocked an arrow in his bow. After aiming carefully for a few seconds, he let a specific arrow fly out. The arrow flew at magnificent speed towards the fighter. Once it made contact, an electrical discharge began swarming the entirety of the fighter. Suddenly, the fighter's engines stopped making noise, and it began falling. She-Ra and Bow quickly went back inside the transport as the fighter fell only a few feet away. The two gasped and breathed sighs of relief.

"Nice shooting, Bow." She-Ra complimented.

"Well… that's a nice welcome." Brett muttered. Catra growled.

"No, kidding…" Catra muttered as well. She pushed passed everyone and took a step outside. Analyzing the surroundings, she knew that Night Moon was going to be a deadly threat. She turned back to everyone and began giving orders.

"Okay, this is worse than we thought. Brett, get out here." Catra commanded. Brett went out and took a look at the airship. He knocked on one of the wings and a few screws fell out. He let out a dramatic groan as he rubbed his forehead. Catra looked to him, "can you fix it?" Brett widened his eyes and immediately turned to Catra.

"Are you serious? You expect me to fix… THIS?!" Brett demanded. Catra simply nodded. Brett then added, "I came here to find Entrapta, and that's what I plan to do!"

"You're not going to live long with Entrapta unless we get this airship fixed." Catra reminded him. "Brett, you're the greatest tech genius that the Horde has to offer. I've seen you fix way more junked-up things." Catra assured. Brett switched glances between the airship and Catra. Catra then decided to egg him on, "don't tell me that the famous Observer Twin can't fix a little airship…" Brett glared at Catra when he heard that.

"Alright, fine! I'll do it…" Brett sighed, "but, I'll need a couple of men to stay behind and help, though; see what we can salvage." Brett explained.

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard. Take some of the cripples." Catra said, half-joking. Brett groaned even more at this. "I'm kidding, Brett. I'll leave you a couple of combat engineers."

"I can help, too." Bow offered, walking up to them. Brett eyed him suspiciously.

"No offense… but what exactly can you do?" Brett inquired.

"I built all of my arrows, including the one that destroyed that fighter." Bow declared. Brett pondered for a moment then gave an agreeable nod.

"Good enough, let's get to work," Brett said. Catra nodded and called for Brittni to come out.

"Brittni, I need you to stay behind and patch up the wounded. See if you can get anyone on their feet. When you're done, take as many as you can with you and meet us in the main building." Catra ordered. Brittni gave a salute to Catra.

"You got it, Force Captain." Brittni agreed. She then went back into the transport and began her medical procedures.

"So, I guess that leaves-" Catra began before turning and seeing She-Ra coming out of the transport. "...Adora." She-Ra gave Catra a half-smile in reply, while Catra just let out a sigh. Brittni, while she was in the airship, could still hear what Catra said.

"_You say that like it's a bad thing!" _Brittni hooted from inside the airship. Catra turned towards the passenger hold and hissed.

"Shut it, Brittni!" Catra growled. She then rubbed her head then said, "alright, Adora and the rest of you, come with me. We're gonna stop that portal." A resounding cheer came from the Horde soldiers as they filed out of the airship. Catra then took a contingent of soldiers and led them to the gate to Mystacor. As they traveled, they remained vigilant, keeping their hands clutched tight to their weapons, and keeping an eye out for any Night Moon soldier. But they did not see any. All they saw were Mystacor sorcerers and Night Moon soldier corpses; killed by different elements: water, fire, wind, rock.

Once Catra's group made it to the gate, She-Ra aimed her sword at the doors and swiped, bashing them off their hinges. As soon as the doors flew open, Catra's group was horrified to what they found inside. It seemed to be a courtyard of some sort… however, it had been completely demolished. There was a vast amount of multi-colored flowers that had been stomped on, a cobblestone path that had imprints of laser fire, a bridge that traversed over a small creek. The small creek itself was beginning to turn red from the blood that had been poured into it from all the fighting. Beyond the courtyard, there were three conjoined buildings that had doors leading to them. Catra and Adora shuttered from all the gore that they were witnessing. Catra nevertheless, stiffened her upper lip, took a few steps in front of the group, and turned to them.

"Alright, this is how we're gonna play this. We're going to split up into three groups." Catra then pointed to eight soldiers, and another eight soldiers and ordered them to infiltrate the left and right buildings, respectively. The two groups nodded and made their way to their destinations. She-Ra looked around and realized that with those two groups gone, it was just the two of them left. She-Ra narrowed her eyes and slightly grinned at Catra.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you split us up for a reason other than covering more ground faster." She-Ra surmised. Catra blushed and quickly turned her back to She-Ra.

"Yeah, well, I guess you really don't know better." Catra sneered as she began walking towards the middle building. She-Ra let out a slight chuckle and followed Catra. As the two walked, She-Ra could not help but feel disturbed at the amount of damage that Night Moon had done. Catra took notice of She-Ra's abhorrence and snickered.

"What's a matter, Adora? Never seen blood before?" Catra said, almost regretting it as she said it. Catra was just as disturbed as She-Ra.

"Sure, I've seen blood… like that time at Sileneas when you clawed my back open." She-Ra said, regretting what she said as well. Catra grimaced and looked away.

"C'mon, you're still mad at that?" Catra demanded. She-Ra stopped, took a deep breath then turned to Catra.

"No, actually. I'm mad that every attempt of diplomacy with you was useless." She-Ra grumbled. Catra groaned.

"Adora… is this really the time?" Catra sighed.

"I dunno, is there a particular reason that you put us together and sent everyone else on their merry way?" Adora demanded.

"Hey! I'm not so egotistical that I'll put you with another squad just to not be around you. Look at you! You're She-Ra. I've seen you slice a tank open with one swipe of your sword. If Night Moon is really as bad as their handiwork looks, I want a hard-hitter on my team." Catra explained. She-Ra narrowed her eyes at Catra then rolled them.

"Fine… let's just find Night Moon and stop them." She-Ra sighed.

After the two finished their bickering, they made it to the building in the middle and carefully entered inside. As they took a look around they saw what appeared to be a gallery of some sort. There were paintings, statues, and most distinctively, mirrors.

"Where the heck are we…?" Catra wondered as she looked around at the mirrors. She went up to a particular mirror and tapped it. As she tapped it, a ripple began waving through the mirror. Catra let out a light shriek and jumped back on all fours. She-Ra took notice and cocked her eyebrow at Catra and the mirror. She-Ra then peered closely at the mirror and realized what it was.

"I've seen these, before! These are memory mirrors!" She-Ra deduced. Catra picked herself up and eyed She-Ra suspiciously.

"Memory mirrors…?" Catra inquired.

"It's exactly how it sounds. It can show you the memories of somebody." She-Ra explained. She then thought hard for a minute, widened her eyes, grinned, then turned to Catra.

"...Why are you looking at me like that?" Catra asked, suspiciously.

"I wonder what memories there are of you?" She-Ra teased. Catra widened her eyes.

"I swear, if you ask the mirror to play a memory of me, I will claw your eyes out." Catra threatened. She-Ra simply laughed.

"No, I'm thinking we can find the leader of Night Moon… Void, I think her name is. We can find out where she is and what kind of resistance we'll face." She-Ra explained. Catra nodded in agreement.

"Alright, fine…" Catra said, she then turned to the mirror and inquired, "Uh… magic mirror… that wasn't destroyed? Show us the last memory of Night Moon's Void!" Catra demanded. She-Ra turned to her, mouth agape.

"What… what's with the rhyme?" She-Ra inquired.

"I dunno, I remember reading a story once, where-" Catra began before a resplendent light shone from the mirror. The two girls shielded their eyes until the light dimmed and began showing Void's memory.

_The perspective of Void, about a couple of hours before the Horde, arrived at Mystacor..._

Glimmer focused her aura into her fists and put them together, generating a dark purple lightning ball. She then aimed at Void and fired it towards her, the lightning moving at an incredible speed. Once the ball was within a few feet from her, Void swiped through the lightning ball, splitting it in half with each half of the ball flying right passed her and hitting the ground, blowing mounds of dirt and grass into the air.

"You're strong, Glimmer… but not stronger than I am!" Void shouted as she unsheathed her other sword and ran at Glimmer, rather quickly. Within around six feet away, Void jumped up and raised her swords above her head with the intent of slicing Glimmer. When her swords were about to make contact, they clinked against a very familiar dagger. Void was surprised at this action. Glimmer had brandished the very dagger that Void had given her, successfully holding Void's swords back.

"You probably shouldn't have given me this." Glimmer sneered.

"Actually…" Void grunted, "I'm glad I did. Otherwise, this fight wouldn't be this INTERESTING!" Void shouted as she pulled one of her swords back and swung at Glimmer's oblique. Glimmer was quick, however, and right as the sword was about to make contact with her oblique, Glimmer wrapped the sword in her aura. Void and Glimmer grunted as they struggled with holding off each other's blade attacks and keeping control of Void's other sword.

Glimmer, wanting to break this struggle, leaned back, letting Void topple onto her. Once Glimmer fell onto her back, she raised her the sole of her foot into Void's stomach and pushed her off backward. Void shouted as she flew over Glimmer, though she was able to quickly recover by rolling forward and jumping up. By the time Void turned around, however, Glimmer had already gotten to her feet and ran up to Void, punching her in her masked face. Once Glimmer punched the mask, it flew off.

Glimmer stared mouth agape at Void, trembling at whatever she was seeing.

"What… are you?" Glimmer demanded. Void took advantage of Glimmer's shock and launched her forehead into Glimmer's skull, knocking her backward onto the ground.

Suddenly, something strange happened next. A different voice was heard coming from Void. It sounded like… Adora? Void rubbed her head for a moment, walked up to Glimmer, and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her up.

"Oh, sorry, Glimmer. I didn't mean to hurt such a good friend of mine. Then again, you did try to kill me." Void, with Adora's voice, said. Glimmer coughed an exclamation of some sort but was otherwise unable to say anything coherent. All of a sudden, the voice changed again, only this time it sounded like Bow! "How could you do this, Glimmer? We were your friends!" Glimmer choked out a more coherent exclamation this time.

"What… are… you?!" Glimmer managed to choke out. Void simply chuckled and her voice changed again.

"What?" Void asked in Queen Angella's voice, "you don't recognize your mother?" Glimmer was absolutely suffocating at this point, but she had no energy to use her aura to fight. Finally, Void whispered something inaudible into Glimmer's ear, then spoke audibly.

"I am the progenitor that will summon Him. He who will sanctify this world of its imperfection…" Void declared, coldly. Glimmer choked under Void's clutches, quickly losing breath. She gripped Void's hands, trying to pull them off to no avail. Slowly but surely, however, Glimmer lost consciousness and gave into Void. Void scoffed then let Glimmer drop to the floor. She then pulled out her radio.

"Cairus, you there?" Void inquired.

"_Yes, lass,"_ Cairus responded.

"Send some men here to come gather Princess Glimmer. She seems to have been… incapacitated." Void ordered.

"_Of course, they're on their way,"_ Cairus said. Void put away the radio and tisked.

"To think, Glimmer… you would have been on the good side of the guy that was going to claim this world…" Void sighed, "oh, well. You'll be meeting my father soon… Horde Prime."

That was the end of the mirror memory. Catra and She-Ra switched glances between each other and the mirror.

"The leader of Night Moon is Horde Prime's daughter?!" Catra exclaimed.

"This definitely isn't good… she really is trying to summon Horde Prime." She-Ra muttered.

"Well, let's play the rest of the footage!" Catra suggested.

"Wait… Void's voice kept changing…" She-Ra observed.

"Yeah… that was actually pretty freaky." Catra agreed.

"Glimmer was shocked to see Void's face. I gotta see what it was." She-Ra mused. She then spoke to the mirror, "Magic Mirror… in glory and awe? Show us what Princess Glimmer saw?" She-Ra said awkwardly. Catra eyed She-Ra strangely until the mirror began playing back Glimmer's memory.

The memory showed some disturbing revelations regarding Void. Not only did Void mimic the voices of Adora, Bow, and Angella…

...She copied their faces.

With each iteration, a cloud of darkness with beads of neon green dots surrounded Void's face, and a new face appeared.

"_What... are... you…?"_ Glimmer inquired. Void then peered closely to Glimmer's ear. She-Ra and Catra were then able to hear the disturbing revelation of just who Void was…

"_You can call me…" _Void began with her breathy, eerie voice.

"_...Double Trouble…" _


	38. Chapter 38: Soon, Father

Chapter 38: Soon, Father

"Double Trouble…?" Adora inquired to nobody in particular. She then turned to Catra, "does that name sound familiar?" Catra simply shook her head.

"Can't say I've ever heard of a 'Double Trouble'" Catra admitted, shaking her head, "but that doesn't matter, we need to find out where Night Moon is and stop them." Adora nodded. The two girls were about to allow the mirror to continue when they heard a series of claps behind them. The two girls turned to see Cairus and a few Red armbands accompanying him. He spoke with his raspy voice.

"Huh, so you managed to survive Dryl." Cairus muttered, "I guess you are as tough as Void said you were." Catra let out a hiss and Adora unsheathed her sword, pointing it at Cairus.

"Where are Void and Glimmer?!" Adora demanded. Cairus let out a hearty laugh then stiffened his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you really think that demanding the location of the two people required to bring Horde Prime to this world would actually persuade me to tell you?" Cairus inquired in the wordiest way. Catra narrowed her eyes at him.

"There is no way that you didn't know a simpler way to say what you just said," Catra muttered.

"Enough talk!" Cairus shouted. He and the Red Armbands then pulled some kind of goggles over their eyes as Cairus slammed his fist on the light switch, cutting out the light in the gallery. As the lights went out, She-Ra attempted to illuminate the room with her sword's radiance. However, soon the only thing illuminated was a beam of green energy flying towards She-Ra's sword. She-Ra managed to wave her sword and deflect some of the shots, but one managed to hit the hilt. Once the energy hit the sword's hilt, She-Ra let out a cry of pain and dropped the sword. The Red armbands quickly acted and ran towards She-Ra, tackling her.

"Agh!" Adora shouted as she transformed back into her normal self. The Red Armbands quickly overpowered her. One of them pulled out their energy baton and was about to stun Adora with it when Catra quickly jumped on the Red Armbands back and stuck her own baton into his neck, sending a surge of volts through his it. He fell on top of Adora, causing her to oof. Before he fell, Catra backflipped off of him.

To the left and right of Catra, there were two more Red Armbands. The Red Armband on the right attempted to stick the baton at Catra's head but she quickly ducked, so that the right Red Armband's baton went straight into the left's, sending a surge of volts through him. Catra then quickly stood back up, clawed the straps that held the Red Armband's goggles, and ripped them off. The Red Armband panicked and began firing in all directions, hitting some of his fellow soldiers.

"Where are you?!" The Red Armband demanded.

"Here." Catra's voice whispered softly from behind his ear. Before he could react, Catra put her claws to the Red Armband's throat and sliced it open with four of her claws. After blood began flowing out of his neck, his armband was not the only thing that had turned red. During this confusion, Adora managed to pick herself up and grabbed her sword, transforming her back to She-Ra.

With sword in hand, the room began to illuminate again, and both girls could see the rest of the opposition. Cairus and the remaining Red Armbands began firing at the two girls. Catra dove to the left and easily maneuvered through their laser fire. She ran to a wall and plunged her claws into it, moving a few feet up. She then heaved herself from the wall and dove at one of the Red Armband's throats, slicing it while simultaneously pulling him down. The Red Armband next to the one that was taken down aimed at Catra and began firing. Catra, however, quickly pulled the one she tackled over her, making him take every laser shot. Catra then grabbed the dead Red Armband's energy baton and fired several shots at the Red Armband near her, ending his life.

She-Ra, on the other hand, had run-up to the other two Red Armbands. One of them fired lasers at She-Ra to which she swiped her blade and deflected the lasers midair. The deflected lasers went right back at the one who shot it. She-Ra sprinted at the other, shifting her shoulder towards him, and rammed him against the concrete wall. Once he was crushed into the wall, he left a cracked imprint, then slowly fell down, unconscious.

All that was left was Cairus. He looked at each girl nervously, then turned to run away.

"Oh, no you don't!" Catra shouted getting on all fours and heaving herself at him, tackling him to the courtyard ground.

"Get off- AGH!" Cairus screamed out as Catra plunged all five of her claws on her right hand into his back.

"Tell us what we want to know or I dig deeper." Catra threatened.

"Catra…!" She-Ra protested. Cairus coughed up some blood.

"If you think… that you're going… to break a… battle-hardened veteran…" Cairus choked out, "...you got another thing coming…" Catra let out a loud hiss and was about to swipe at him again when She-Ra grabbed her free hand. Catra looked back and hissed at She-Ra.

"Let go!" Catra commanded.

"Catra, wait-" She-Ra started to protest. While the two argued, Cairus managed to pull a ball from one of his pouches and clicked a button on it. After a few seconds, a bright light flashed everyone's eyes. She-Ra and Catra screamed in irritation and started rubbing their eyes. Cairus was still wearing the night-vision goggles and was thus unaffected. With Catra's claws out of his back, Cairus raised his right elbow and knocked Catra off, then quickly picked himself up and ran off.

After a few moments, the two girls regained their eyesight and simultaneously groaned.

"Ugh, why'd you do that?! You let him get away!" Catra snapped.

"Catra, I saw that look in your eyes, you were ready to kill him!" She-Ra snapped back.

"Who cares?!" Catra demanded.

"Catra, we needed information from him," She-Ra explained. Catra scoffed and picked herself up. "You're letting your rage get the best of you."

"I don't need a morality lesson from you, Adora! I-" Catra began before the two heard a familiar voice coming from the front entrance. They turned and saw a short girl wearing medical armor.

"Hello?" Brittni inquired as she came through.

"Brittni! I told you to patch up our troops!" Catra snapped. Brittni cocked her eyebrow at Catra.

"I did patch them up, but it's not like they're gonna be up and walking right away, are they?" Brittni challenged. Catra groaned. Brittni looked around and whistled, "wow, Night Moon really did a number on this place…"

"They sure did." She-Ra sighed.

"Alright, fine. One more member of the team to help us fight. Let's go." Catra said.

"Go where?" She-Ra inquired, "we don't know which way to go!"

"I think I do," Brittni said. The two other girls turned to her, "I saw that Cairus guy run away. I'll bet he'll lead us to where they're making the portal. C'mon, follow me!" Brittni appealed. The two girls then followed Brittni to a bookcase at the west end of the entryway.

"Is reading a part of your strategy…?" Catra protested.

"Just watch," Brittni said. She then began feeling around the bookcase and found a volume entitled, 'Flying Zone.' Upon pulling it out and opening it, a great tremor began shaking the room and the bookcase began diverging until a door was revealed. The door had a symbol of a person with a strange pointy hat, sitting on a broom as it apparently levitated. Catra and She-Ra switched glances at each other, then the door. Catra carefully reached for the knob and slowly began to turn it, when suddenly, she stopped. She-Ra eyed her suspiciously while Catra took a deep breath then turned to Brittni.

"Brittni, how did you patch our soldiers up so quickly?" Catra inquired. Brittni cocked her eyebrow.

"I, uh… had a little help, and most of their injuries weren't too severe." Brittni explained.

"How did you get here so quick?" She-Ra chimed in. Brittni glared at the two.

"I'm sorry, is there a problem here? Can we go catch the bad guys already?!" Brittni demanded. Catra narrowed her eyes at Brittni.

"What did I say to Adora when we were in the sewer at Dryl?" Catra demanded. The moment Catra asked that question, Brittni's face began to turn pale. Then slowly, Brittni's mouth curved into a creepy grin. Then suddenly, a shroud of darkness with green particles enveloped Brittni, and suddenly Brittni's form shifted into a person neither girls had seen before.

Before the two girls now stood a light green-skinned, reptilian looking humanoid. Double Trouble had a rather tall and slender build, pointy ears, long blond hair, a black and green bodysuit, and a light green curvy tail. To complete the creepy look, their eyes featured large, slanted, almond-shaped eyes with dark green scleras, chartreuse irises, and slitted pupils. Catra and She-Ra also saw that their eyes blinked horizontally.

"Oh, darling, you caught me. And here I thought I was the most credible actor in all of Etheria…" Double Trouble sighed, "well, no matter. Time to die." Double Trouble shouted excitedly as they grabbed both ends of the bookcase and raised their feet up, kicking Catra through the door, then backflipping several feet away.

"Catra!" She-Ra screamed while Catra screeched as she went flying through the door into the unknown.

"Better go after her. I'm not sure that kittens can live dropping a hundred feet, even if they do land on their feet." Double Trouble said, facetiously. She-Ra switched glances between the door and Double Trouble. Although she knew that she had to stop Double Trouble, she nevertheless could not live with herself by letting Catra die.

"I will be back. And we _will _stop you!" She-Ra threatened as she jumped through the door and transformed her sword into a rope. Catra was shrieking as she was very quickly descending to the ground. She-Ra quickly tied a lasso onto the rope and heaved it at Catra. The rope quickly tightened around Catra's wrist, and She-Ra hoisted her up. She-Ra then wrapped her arm around Catra then transformed her sword back to its base property. Catra instinctively held She-Ra close as well.

"Well, thanks! But now we're both falling!" Catra protested.

"Not for long…" She-Ra muttered as she plunged her sword into the wall that was descending below the door. The sword scraped out sparks and bits of ground-up metal. Slowly but surely, however, the two girls slowed down to a stop, around six feet from the ground. She-Ra let out a rather dramatic sigh of relief while Catra's fur stood up from the shock. Both girls were panting as though they had just run a marathon; fatigued, yet relieved.

"Are you alright, Catra?" She-Ra inquired. Catra took a deep breath and let out a low chuckle.

"Considering I almost splattered all over the ground, yeah, I'm doing pretty great," Catra said, jokingly. Both girls let out short giggles. As She-Ra held Catra close, both girls' eyes connected, and for the first time in a significantly long while, the two felt like friends again. Although Catra was enjoying this moment, she wanted to save face, and so, coughed intently.

"Um…we… we should get moving." Catra suggested. She-Ra smiled, nodded, then ripped her sword out of the wall, causing the two to fall. As they hit the ground, She-Ra was still holding Catra.

"Uh… Adora, you can put me down." Catra suggested. She-Ra blinked.

"Oh, uh. Sorry, Catra." She-Ra blushed as she set Catra down. But she was not the only one blushing.

At this moment, however, the two girls had to observe their surroundings. Despite falling quite a long way, the area they found themselves in was still lit rather well. In front of the two girls was a training area of some sort. There were large poles holding large rings. On opposite wall ends there were goal posts indicating this was some kind of flying sport.

"I get it. We're in some kind of arena where sorcerers learn to fly." She-Ra indicated, "that's why we fell down so far." Catra rolled her eyes.

"Who cares? We need to get back upstairs and stop Night Moon!" Catra snapped. She-Ra nodded and went to the wall, looking up.

"That's a long way up…" She-Ra pondered, "we can climb up or look for an elevator or something." Catra nodded.

"I'll try to get a signal." Catra offered, pulling out her radio. Unfortunately, all that either girl could hear was static. Catra let out a groan, "well, so much for getting help."

"C'mon," She-Ra said, placing her hand atop Catra's. Catra switched glances between her hand and She-Ra then nodded.

"Okay, let's go…"

_Meanwhile, back at the Horde's crashed ship… _

"Okay, this might hurt a little…" Brittni reassured a soldier she was treating.

"AGH!" The Horde soldier screamed as Brittni popped his leg back into place.

"There. Hardly hurt at all, did it?" Brittni declared, grinning with her eyes closed. The soldier simply groaned and fell back onto the floor. Brittni looked around. She was able to see that she had treated the last of the soldiers, but most of them would have to take it easy before venturing out. Brittni took a step outside to see how Brett and Bow were doing. They managed to salvage the turbine, and they were in the process of welding it back on.

"How's it going?" Brittni inquired. Brett let out a chuckle as he leaned against the wing.

"We might just pull this off." Brett declared. He then looked to Bow who was performing the welding job. "Who'da thunk that a rebel could be so handy with a blowtorch?" Brittni smiled.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. I've managed to get a few soldiers on their feet, but the rest are going to have to take it easy right now." Brittni sighed, "We could really use those Rebel soldiers that the Queen of Bright Moon sent right about now. Bow lifted his welding goggles then turned to Brittni.

"I'll try to get her on the radio and see when they'll be able to get here." Bow offered. Brittni nodded.

"Thanks, Bow. Well, I'm going to take the few soldiers we have left and head into Mystacor." Brittni declared. Brett nodded.

"Be careful, sis." Brett cautioned.'ll

L lol..

"I always am," Brittni said with a wink. She then took a small squad and headed to the gates of Mystacor. Once they passed through the gate and headed into the courtyard, they were all equally disturbed by the gore and violence that had been strewn around it.

"Night Moon… they're sick animals, aren't they?" One of the Horde soldiers commented.

"Yeah, no kidding," Brittni muttered. Before anyone could say anything else, a little girl came running down a hallway from the East building, adjacent to the courtyard.

"F...Frosta?" Brittni inquired.

"Oh, thank goodness! You're… you're here to save Mystacor, right?" Frosta yelled as she ran towards Brittni waving her arms erratically. The Horde soldiers with Brittni aimed their rifles at Frosta. Frosta stopped and put her arms in the air.

"Hold your fire!" Brittni ordered as she moved towards Frosta. Brittni knelt down next to Frosta, "you're the princess of the Kingdom of Snows; Frosta, right? I'm Brittni." Frosta sniffled as she nodded her head. Brittni then asked, "but you're in league with Night Moon, aren't you?" Frosta erratically shook her head.

"N...Not anymore! They're evil! Look what they did to this place! They tried to kill Glimmer!" Frosta exclaimed. Brittni blinked her eyes several times.

"They tried… they tried to kill Glimmer? I thought she was the leader of Night Moon?!" Brittni demanded. Frosta shook her head.

"Glimmer finally decided she didn't want to be a part of all this anymore. She… She almost killed her aunt who's the leader of Mystacor… and she finally had a change of heart." Frosta explained. Brittni blinked her eyes a few times.

"No… no way. Glimmer? Psycho, evil Glimmer? The one that raided Elberon, ravaged Dryl and led the onslaught of this place?" Brittni scoffed.

"You don't have to antagonize her!" Frosta snapped with an angry expression for a few moments until she realized how harsh she sounded. "S...Sorry… But, I'm telling the truth. Void made her a prisoner and now they're making a portal! We have to stop them!" Frosta begged as she grabbed hold of Brittni.

For some reason, Brittni felt rather strange when Frosta grabbed hold of her. Brittni's intuition was telling her that something was off about both of what Frosta was saying and Frosta herself. Nevertheless, Mystacor was rather large, and they would need a guide to where Night Moon was activating the portal. Brittni stood up and nodded.

"Alright. Do you know where they're making the portal?" Brittni inquired. Frosta nodded.

"Yeah! It's right where I was coming from!" Frosta indicated. Brittni nodded again.

"Alright, lead the way, Frosta," Brittni suggested. Frosta nodded and trotted over to the building that led to the hallway where she came from, and the Horde soldiers followed. As they all entered the hallway, Brittni let out a stifled gasp as she realized where she was.

"_The Hall of Sorcerers…"_ Brittni thought to herself, _"wait a minute… this is just like in my dream!" _Brittni paused for a moment to consider everything that was potentially going to happen. Frosta and the Horde soldiers stopped and turned to Brittni.

"Brittni? What's wrong?" Frosta inquired.

"N...Nothing. Sorry, the statues are just a little creepy, that's all." Brittni said, awkwardly. Frost shrugged her shoulders and they continued on.

"I noticed you have Dryllish soldiers with you…" Frosta noted as she saw the armor the Horde soldiers were wearing, "sorry for the trouble in your kingdom. I swear that the Kingdom of Snows will make it right. The Horde soldiers; not really being Dryllish, only pretended to care about what Frost was saying. They simply thanked her and everyone carried on.

Once everyone arrived at the door at the end of the hallway, Brittni put her hand on the doorknob and shuddered a little bit, fearful of what she was going to see once she opened the door. She kept having flashbacks of her dream when Frosta was attacked by Void.

"_Why am I having these flashbacks…? Frosta is right here!" _Brittni reasoned with herself, _"...but then again, there's something really strange about this Frosta right here." _Brittni did not want to brush this feeling off. After all, her intuition was entwined with her powers of observation. Therefore, at this moment, Brittni took a deep breath, quickly opened the door, and brandished her laser pistol.

But what was inside the chamber before her? Was it Frosta bleeding out on the floor? Void mocking her? Something worse?!

No.

It was simply another chamber. This chamber was eerily similar to the one in Brittni's dream, however. It had the same decorations, down to the last tile on the floor. The staircase was present, as well as all the other doodads. One thing that Brittni had was an intuition that they were moving closer to the portal. Brittni let out a sigh of relief.

"Well, okay, I guess my dream was just a-" Brittni began to say until she heard a loud cry coming from up the stairs. The group looked up to see…

...Frosta?!

The group switched glances between the two Frostas. The one atop the stairs looked pretty beat up, and she had multiple lacerations where blood was dripping out.

"Th...There's two of 'em?!" One of the Horde soldiers inquired.

"Which one's the real one?!" Another one inquired. The one with the group scoffed.

"I'm the real one! I don't know who she is!" Frosta said.

"N...No! No, she's not! I'm the real Frosta!" The one atop the stairs indicated. Brittni stood there for a moment with her hand shaking, wondering what to do exactly. She let out a sigh, then turned to the Frosta nearest to her and brandished her laser pistol.

"Wh...What are you doing, Brittni?!" Frosta demanded.

"Tell me something, 'Frosta,' can you conjure ice?" Brittni inquired. Frosta eyed Brittni suspiciously, then grinned.

"Of course, I can!" Frosta indicated as she aimed at a bust to the right of her, and fired an ice spike at it, shattering it. "See?" Brittni smirked.

"I sure do…" Brittni muttered. She then spoke to the soldiers with her, "go get the Frosta up there, she's the real one."

"Wh-wh- huh?!" The Frosta downstairs sputtered out. Brittni scoffed.

"Just who are you?" Brittni demanded, keeping her laser pistol aimed at the imposter. The imposter scoffed. A shroud of darkness with green then enveloped the imposter until Void appeared before them, giggling and clapping.

"Bravo, bravo, Brittni. I must say, I'm impressed. How, ever did you know it was me?"

"Well, for starters, that ice spike you shot out was merely an illusion. I could tell by its shape and the speed it flew. I've seen what the real Frosta could do, and it's much more extravagant. I bet you got that from a spellbook here in Mystacor, huh?" Brittni inquired.

"Mmhmm, go on…" Void muttered, putting her finger to her mask.

"Second, Frosta's hands are intrinsically cold. It's the inherent trait of those that possess the power of the Fractal Flake. I read about it in a book… not to mention the guilty frequency in your voice." Brittni indicated. She then added, "and finally, I saw the real Frosta bleeding to death in my vision." Void chuckled.

"Your 'vision,' huh? So, you've awakened the powers of the Crystal Ball, have you? That must mean that Oracle is still around…" Brittni widened her eyes at what Void had just declared. Her hands began trembling in shock.

"How… how do you know…" Brittni began before being interrupted.

"Oh, darling, you'll come to realize I know quite a bit about you, your brother, and your mother…" Void said coldly, then sighed, "well, I was going to lead you to an ambush, but I suppose I'll lead the ambush to you." Void then spoke into her bracer.

"Night Moon, attack!" Void commanded. As she spoke those words, coming from the north entrance, the east entrance (right behind Void;) and a door from up the stairs, were three groups of Night Moon soldiers barging in through the doors. Brittni switched glances between all the Night Moon soldiers that had guns on herself and the Horde soldiers.

"Wh...What do we do, ma'am?!" One of the Horde soldiers inquired. Brittni looked up at the soldier then looked around for anything that could be useful for them. At the corner of her eye, she saw a fire extinguisher in its cabinet at the North entrance, and one at the South entrance. Brittni smirked as she said the following statement.

"...Follow my lead."

_Around an hour or so before the Horde landed on Mystacor... _

While Glimmer was unconscious, she was dragged to Mystacor's Lunarium; (the main chamber where a monthly ritual takes place.) In this ritual, three moons align in an eclipse. When this eclipse happens, the Head Sorcerer captures the eclipse's energy and uses it to give magic to everyone in Mystacor. The Lunarium was an impressively sized chamber that was filled with memory shards in the form of glass that levitated around the circular shape of the chamber. In the center was the lunar lense that would capture the eclipse energy. Glimmer was brought before the lunar lense and restrained. When Glimmer came to she opened her eyes in a groggy state.

"Ugh... what... what happened?" Glimmer inquired. She tried to move her wrists and ankles but found that they had been bound. She blinked a few times and realized that she was laying on the floor of the Lunarium. She looked around and found Night Moon, Red Armband, and Kingdom of Snows soldiers moving around carrying equipment and working on some kind of large device. The device had a large round base where a hollow pipeline of metal curved into a circular shape. Glimmer gasped when she realized what it was.

"...The Portal!" Glimmer choked out as she struggled against her bonds.

"Ah, awake are we?" A very familiar, yet unwelcome voice declared. Glimmer maneuvered herself around and found Void standing a few feet away, staring down at Glimmer. Glimmer growled at Void.

"You! You betrayed me!" Glimmer snapped. Void scoffed and knelt down next to Glimmer.

"Really? I betrayed you? Last I checked, you're the one that disobeyed orders and attacked me." Void explained, calmly. Glimmer growled.

"I swear when I get my hands on you... Whoever you are!" Glimmer threatened.

"Save your strength, darling. You're going to need it once we power up the portal." Void indicated. She then put her finger to her mask then chuckled, "actually, let me rephrase that. _We'll_ need your strength TO power up the portal." Glimmer blinked a few times.

"What are you talking about?!" Glimmer demanded.

"Oh, I've been studying just what had been causing all the darkness that surrounded you and shifted your anatomy. It was not simply your attitude or your anger... no, while you were sleeping one day, I had one of my scientists take a blood sample and analyze it. It turns out that you absorbed a great deal of Light Spinner- er, excuse me, Shadow Weaver's blood. Her blood coalesced with your blood, which not only let you harness the power of the Black Garnet but also, Shadow Weaver's intrinsic dark magic that she learned while at Mystacor." Void explained. Glimmer blinked then glared at Void.

"Okay, so what does all that have to do with me?!" Glimmer demanded. Void chuckled and stood up.

"Simple, my dear. You are the power source. We're going to use the light and dark magic within you to power the portal and keep it functioning." Void explained. Glimmer gasped.

"You're going to steal my magic?!" Glimmer protested. Void nodded.

"Indeed. So, sorry, Glimmer. But don't worry, once the portal is open, I'll restore your magic... after I dominate your mind." Void said coldly.

"Dominate my... What are you saying?" Glimmer demanded. Void smirked.

"Well, if you aren't with me, you're against me, and frankly, I want you with me. If you aren't going to obey me, then I'm going to have to force obedience." Void said, coldly.

"You won't... I won't let you do that!" Glimmer snapped.

"Oh no?" Void teased, "I already have with Entrapta. See for yourself." Void said, moving out of the way and presenting Entrapta. Entrapta slowly walked towards Entrapta, looking about as empty as a dead jellyfish.

"En...Entrapta?" Glimmer inquired. Entrapta slowly turned her head to Glimmer.

"All...Hail...Horde...Prime..." Entrapta muttered, ever robotically. Glimmer gasped.

"You... You monster!" Glimmer accused. Void motioned for Entrapta to move to the portal, and she did so, beginning to use a blowtorch on it. Void then turned back to Glimmer and tisked.

"Again with the name-calling? I expected more from you, Glimmer..." Void muttered. Before Glimmer could respond, a Night Moon scout approached Void.

"Apologies for the intrusion, mistress, but we've received reports that an unknown airship is entering Mystacor's space. We believe it may be the Horde." The scout indicated. Void let out a dramatic sigh.

"If it's not one thing, it's another." Void muttered as she sighed. She then turned to the scout, "get some of our birds in the sky and shoot them down. I don't care who it is. Also, have Cairus send a detachment of troops to the main chamber, in case they manage to land. And if they penetrate both of those defenses... well... I'll have to deal with them, myself." Void commanded. The scout bowed and turned to execute Void's orders. Void smirked under her mask and walked out of the room. Glimmer tried to protest, but Void simply ignored her.

"Soon... Father... Soon..."


	39. Chapter 39: Arrival

Chapter 39: Arrival

_Meanwhile, back with Brittni…_

Brittni had found a couple of fire extinguishers conveniently placed behind the Night Moon soldiers that had just raided the room.

"Kill them!" Void shouted as she pointed her sword at Brittni. Brittni in the meanwhile made a quick, yet calculated decision.

"_Okay, if I duck and roll to the backward, I can pop off a shot at the extinguisher at the north wall, and then the one behind me. That might disorient them enough to have a fighting chance!"_ Brittni planned out in her mind. Right as Night Moon was about to fire upon her, Brittni took a few potshots at the extinguisher at the North entrance. Just as she expected, the extinguisher exploded, forcing a hefty amount of sodium chloride, to fog up the Northside. In addition, bits of metal flew from the extinguisher, further disorienting the Night Moon soldiers.

The ones coming from the East entrance began firing at Brittni. A few of their lasers managed to hit her armor as she was rolling, but her armor managed to stop the blasts. The extinguisher behind her, on the other hand, could not stop her blasts as she fired a laser into it, replicating what happened with the North entrance; though Brittni shielded herself from the metal. Soon, the room began filling up with the fog created from the blown-up extinguishers.

Meanwhile, the Horde soldiers upstairs began their firefight with Night Moon. Unfortunately, the combatants were in close proximity, and many of the Night Moon soldiers were wielding swords which lead to the quick slaughter of many of the Horde soldiers.

Frosta merely watched helplessly as the Horde soldiers were one by one getting killed. She shuddered for a few moments, thinking of what Glimmer would do. A few tears streamed down her eyes but she quickly wiped them away. Some Horde soldiers retreated close to her, continuing to fire as they backed towards the door opposite to Night Moon's entrance.

Frosta, using what little strength she had, got up on one knee and brandished her hands. She let out a low groan that evolved into a loud scream. Believing in herself, she forced ice to conjure from her hands, flowing past the Horde soldiers and freezing the Night Moon soldiers in place, successfully restraining them. The Horde looked back at Frosta and nodded. Frosta gave a thumbs up, then fell on her stomach. One of the Horde soldiers picked her up and moved her to the corner of the upstairs. After shooting the Night Moon soldiers upstairs, both sides below and up the stairs began taking potshots at each other. The lasers did nothing to illuminate the area, as the extinguisher contents began completely fogging up the area.

This was no trouble for Brittni, however. She had remembered where the soldiers had been placed, and so, unholstered her energy baton, and went to town. She first ran to the soldiers at the East entrance. The one closest to her received a big jolt of electricity in his neck. Another soldier noticed her and aimed his rifle, only for Brittni to smack it out of the way and stick her baton into his neck, electrocuting him. One of the soldiers close to the door unsheathed a sword and swung at Brittni, though missed, due to her being cloaked in the fog. She saw where the blade came from, however, and moved close to him, grabbing his neck and bashing his head against the wall. Although his helmet protected him somewhat, the strength in Brittni's power armor caused the thick wall to have a massive cranial imprint in it. Brittni then let the man fall to the ground to focus on the rest of the soldiers.

Between Brittni's quick maneuvering, and the Horde soldier's potshots, the remaining Night Moon soldiers were quickly dispatched. Despite Brittni's quick thinking, however, most of their team had been killed, being reduced to two soldiers and a wounded Frosta.

Brittni took a few moments to catch her breath. As the extinguisher fog dissipated, she looked around. One of the Horde soldiers was taking care of Frosta while the other joined her downstairs.

"Sorry, ma'am. We lost visual on the Night Moon leader... she seems to have just vanished." The Horde soldier indicated. Brittni sighed.

"Well... at least a few of us survived." Brittni groaned. The soldier nodded and Brittni added, looking up, "is Frosta okay?" The soldiers scratched the back of her neck.

"You're going to want to have a look at her, Nurse Brittni." The soldier indicated. Brittni nodded and ran up the stairs, gently pushing aside the other soldier. Upon taking a closer look at Frosta, Brittni noticed that there was an ever so slight strangulation wound upon Frosta's neck. This happened recently; as in, the last ten seconds. Something was fishy about this, but Brittni did not want to jump to conclusions just yet. She had to save Frosta.

"Frosta, hey, look at me. You're going to be fine." Brittni declared. Frosta coughed out a little more blood.

"If... If I don't..." Frosta began as she trembled, "tell... Tell Glimmer... I... I... I love her..." Frosta said as she silently sobbed. Brittni pulled out a dressing and began applying it to Frosta.

"You can tell her yourself..." Brittni declared as she smiled at Frosta. Frosta took great comfort in Brittni's smile and smiled back.

"Look…" Frosta began, "j...just leave me. You need to stop Void! She's going to open that portal!" Brittni assessed the situation. Frosta was right, Brittni needed to find Catra, Adora, and stop Night Moon. Nevertheless, Frosta did not realize just what Brittni was capable of. Brittni cleared her throat and laid her hands upon Frosta's head. Before Frosta had a chance to ask Brittni what she was doing, Brittni spoke in her reverse language.

"delaeh eb ot ydob siht dnammoc I ,roivaS eht fo eman eht nI!" Brittni spoke as the power surged through her hands and Frosta's wounds began closing. Frosta and the Horde soldiers gasped and widened their eyes at the rapid healing of Frosta's body.

"Wha?!...H... How did you do that?!" Frosta demanded as she switched glances between her closed wounds and Brittni.

"Frosta, it is such a long and convoluted story that Horde Prime will get here by the time I get to the ending. Let's just get to the portal." Brittni insisted as she helped Frosta up.

"Thanks…" Frosta said in gratitude, "okay, the portal is being built in this place called the 'Lunarium.' I'll take you to it. Let's go!" Frosta declared. And with that, the group of four took off towards the Portal. Frosta led them through the southern door atop the stairs.

As they walked in, they found themselves in another hallway. There was nothing particularly interesting about this hallway except something that made everyone gasp and tremble. Lying on the floor was a group of Horde soldiers bleeding out. Brittni quickly ran over to them to see if there were any survivors. She felt the pulse of three of them to no avail but rejoiced when she heard one leaning against a wall.

"Soldier! Are you alright?!" Brittni inquired. The soldier let out a chuckle as he coughed a little blood out.

"I've… been better…" The soldier said with a chuckle, "Night Moon... ambushed us. But... I… I can only... guess that this hall...way leads to the… portal…" The soldier choked out.

"Hang on, I'm gonna heal you. I-" Brittni began before the soldier exhaled his last breath and his head dropped. Brittni shuddered for a few moments, upset that she was unable to help but even angrier towards Night Moon for causing this. Brittni stood up and turned to her team.

"We need to stop them. Now." Brittni declared, boldly. Everyone nodded and continued on. As they moved through the remainder of the corridor, Brittni became more paranoid since the revelation of Void's ability to shapeshift. As they all walked along, Brittni took a particular step and felt something strange on the floor. She shuddered before putting her full weight on it then took a step back, and looked behind her shoulder.

"Something wrong, Brittni?" Frosta inquired, right behind Brittni. Brittni fully turned around and faced the two Horde soldiers. She eyed them both suspiciously.

"What… what's wrong, Nurse Brittni?" One of the soldiers inquired.

"Julie, take a step backward," Brittni commanded. Julie tilted her head in confusion, but nonetheless, took a step backward. The other Horde soldier, Eshleman switched glances between everyone. Brittni then looked to Eshleman, "Eshleman, take a step over here." Eshleman eyed her suspiciously under his helmet.

"What? Why?" Eshleman demanded.

"I'm the commanding officer and I gave you an order." Brittni calmly declared. Eshleman let out a groan.

"You're just a nurse! Why should I-" Eshleman began before being interrupted by Brittni.

"Because you're not really Eshleman, are you?" Brittni inquired. Eshleman trembled for a moment before letting out a low chuckle.

"I suppose nothing will ever get by you, Brittni…" Eshleman muttered. Then, quick as a flash, Eshleman grabbed hold of Julie and threw her towards Brittni and Frosta. Brittni quickly moved out of the way by hugging the wall, while Frosta took the brunt of Julie. Soon, both of them fell onto the step that Brittni previously had avoided. Once they fell on it, a trapdoor was sprung, and both of them fell into it, letting out frightened screams.

"Frosta! Julie!" Brittni yelled as she moved away from the wall and knelt at the trapdoor.

"Well…" Double Trouble began as they shapeshifted back into their Void persona, "I suppose you should go after them. After all, you wouldn't want them to be hurt, would you?" Brittni growled and picked herself up, lunging at Void. Brittni managed to tackle Void and cocked back her fist laying a right hook on the side of Void's head, avoiding the mask, and striking her dome. Void quickly shapeshifted into Double Trouble which caught Brittni off guard. Double Trouble then performed a rather disgusting and desperate stunt.

They actually spat in Brittni's face. Although Brittni was wearing her helmet, the spit that Double Trouble used was gunky enough to block Brittni's visor.

"Ergh!" Brittni shrieked. She then let out an oof as Double Trouble kicked her off. Brittni flew back a little ways away towards the trapdoor. Brittni slightly picked herself up but was standing dangerously close to the trapdoor. when Double Trouble quickly sprang into action and moved to Brittni. As Brittni struggled to keep balance, Double Trouble simply put their finger to Brittni's helmet and lightly pushed. No amount of flailing could stop her stumbling as Brittni tumbled backward and fell into the trapdoor. Double Trouble merely smirked as they waved goodbye to Brittni.

"...Goodbye, darling."

_Meanwhile, Void reappears back at the portal construction... _

Glimmer had been bound to a chair that looks as though it belonged in a dungeon. She continued to struggle against her bonds to no avail. Her wrists were cuffed to the chair's armrest and secured with some kind of energy restraints. Several electrodes had been hooked up to Glimmer's body, no doubt serving as conduits in order to power the portal. Entrapta was still rather close to Glimmer as she was working on the machine. Glimmer stopped her struggling for a moment to catch her breath then slowly turned her head; in shame, towards Entrapta.

"Entrapta… are you there…?" Glimmer inquired, hopefully. Entrapta stopped her blowtorch and pulled up her welding mask. She then turned to Glimmer with an absolutely blank face.

"There is no Entrapta. There is only Horde Prime. All hail Lord Prime." Entrapta said, hypnotically. Glimmer groaned.

"Entrapta! No, you're Entrapta! You're the technology master that absolutely adores robots and eats tiny food! You have to remember! Please, Entrapta!" Glimmer tried reasoning. Entrapta stared for a few moments and tilted her head a bit, indicating that to some degree, Entrapta was still in there.

"Entrapta…" Glimmer began, her lip quivering, "If… if you're in there, somewhere… I just want you to know I'm sorry. I'm sorry for invading your kingdom, kidnapping you, and stealing your plans... I'm so sorry for everything I've done to you." A few tears began streaming down Glimmer's eyes as she silently sobbed. Entrapta continued to gaze at Glimmer, showing hints of emotion. Amazingly, even her mouth started slowly curving into a smile. Entrapta was about to say something when she yelped in pain. Some kind of shock was delivered to her neck and her eyes once again turned blank.

"The portal must be completed. Lord Prime's arrival is imminent." Entrapta declared, once again under Void's control. Void opened the door to the chamber and everybody stood at attention. The only sounds were coming from the electrical relays and Glimmer struggling.

"So, I see you attempted to reason with Entrapta? It won't work, darling." Void said coldly as she approached Glimmer and cupped her chin in her hand. Glimmer tried to move her head away but Void maintained a firm hand, "Horde Prime is Eternal. He will be here." Void declared coldly. Glimmer wriggled her head away from Void's grasp and spat at her face. Void simply stood there and took it. She then began chuckling as she wiped away the spit from her mask.

"You know… that's one of the reasons I wear a mask." Void claimed. Cairus approached Void from behind.

"My lady, the construction of the portal is complete. It only needs to siphon the power from Glimmer and it will be functional." Cairus explained. Void gazed at the portal and grinned.

"Excellent, Cairus…" Void mused as she approached the portal and stroked one of the pylons, then turned her head to Cairus, "it's only a matter of time, Cairus. Make sure to keep the surrounding rooms secure. We cannot let this fail."

"Right away, ma'am." Cairus declared as he led a brigade of his soldiers out of the chamber into the hallway to set up defensive points. Void then motioned for Entrapta to man the siphoning device. Entrapta stumbled towards a lever and gripped it.

"No! Entrapta, please! This isn't you!" Glimmer begged as Entrapta gripped the lever. Entrapta turned her head to Glimmer and hesitated for a moment.

"My, my. You have quite the willpower, Entrapta." Void said as she walked over to her and put her hands over Entrapta's, "why don't I help you, love?" Void then tore the lever with all her might, beginning the siphoning of Glimmer's magic. Glimmer shrieked as the process began.

"Don't worry… in a few moments, you won't even remember this…"

_Meanwhile, back at Brittni's and Frosta's predicament... _

While Brittni was falling down, the weight of her armor pushed her faster and she turned to face her body downward. Soon, she fell fast enough that she was able to grab hold of Frosta's wrist while Frosta was holding Julie's wrist.

"I got you, Frosta! Don't worry!" Brittni declared as she extended her limbs until they pressed against the walls of the narrow passage. Mustering all the strength she had, Brittni held herself, Frosta, and Julie in place. All three girls were hyperventilating from this near-death experience.

"Thank you, Brittni!" Frosta said, gratefully.

"Seriously!" Julie chimed in.

"Don't thank me yet... I actually haven't planned anything past this point." Brittni admitted, "We could definitely use a hand... or two right about now." As though it were some kind of miraculous godsend, Brittni and Frosta heard some friendly voices coming from above.

"_Be on the lookout, Catra, who knows what's in this room..." _Adora muttered as they moved closer towards the trapdoor.

"Adora?! Adora, is that you?!" Brittni yelled from the trapdoor. A moment later, Brittni heard loud footsteps advancing towards the trapdoor. Suddenly, Brittni saw two familiar faces.

"Brittni?! Is that you?!" Adora inquired.

"Yes! Help us out!" Brittni yelled. Catra, despite the inappropriate circumstances, let out a chuckle. Brittni groaned, "you think this is funny?!"

"I mean, kinda. Yeah." Catra said, facetiously. Frosta let out an even louder groan.

"GET. US. OUTTA HERE!" Frosta commanded. Adora then transformed into She-Ra and changed her sword into a rope. Letting the rope down, Brittni grabbed hold, and the three were then brought out of the trapdoor. Once they were out, Brittni wrapped She-Ra in a hug.

"Thank you!" Brittni said as she hugged She-Ra. Brittni then looked up, "wow. I know I'm short, but you're REALLY dwarfing me right now." She-Ra giggled then looked at Frosta. Frosta's lip quivered.

"I... She-Ra... Adora. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for joining Night Moon and causing all this. I just-" Frosta began before being interrupted by Catra.

"Focus!" Catra snapped, "we need to find Night Moon! Let's go!" Everyone agreed and they all moved to the end of the hall. As they got closer, She-Ra turned her head to Frosta.

"I forgive you..." She-Ra whispered to Frosta. Frosta let a few tears out and smiled. As the group approached the door at the end of the hall, Brittni put her ear to the door, listening for what was in the next room.

"...It's quiet." Brittni observed. Frosta shrugged and was about to open the door when Brittni grabbed her wrist and added, "a little too quiet. I guarantee there's going to be some Night Moon soldiers in there."

"So, what's the plan?" She-Ra inquired. Brittni moved away from the door and put her hand to the lower part of her helmet. She looked around the room to search for other openings. Brittni grinned when she saw a vent grate right above the group.

"The vents... they should be able to lead us directly to the Lunarium." Brittni indicated as she pointed at the vent. She-Ra grabbed the grate opening and ripped it off. Brittni nodded, grabbed the grate, and pulled herself into the vent. Frosta did the same, as did Julie, then She-Ra.

"Oh, no... I am NOT getting into that." Catra quipped.

"Sure you are." She-Ra teased as she grabbed hold of Catra's wrist and pulled her up into the vent. Catra let out a shriek as she was pulled up then groaned. "Shhh..." She-Ra whispered. Catra hissed and rolled her eyes, then the group was on the move.

The vents were a tad narrow, so everyone had to be on all fours to move through it. As they were moving through it, three members of the group heard what was possibly the most adorable noise they had ever heard. Everyone turned their heads back to see Catra let out a sneeze.

"Oh, my gosh. Catra." Brittni began. Catra narrowed her eyes at everyone.

"...What?" Catra demanded in a huff.

"Your sneeze is so... cute!" She-Ra declared.

"What?!" Catra protested, "it's a sneeze! Sneezes aren't cute!"

"Yours is." Brittni accused, giggling.

"Oh, shut up and keep moving!" Catra commanded. As the group moved along, they heard chatter below. Brittni realized they were right above the chamber that was adjacent to the hallway they were just in. There was a grate on the floor of the vent so Brittni decided to look through it and take a peek.

Brittni was right about her intuition of people being in the chamber. Cairus had Red Armband and Night Moon soldiers armed to the teeth, posted at every corner of the chamber, both above a staircase and on the floor. Various pieces of furniture were flipped over to be used as cover. Brittni let out a sigh of relief. That relief was short-lived, however, as Catra spelled out their doom...

...With another sneeze.

Everyone in the vents turned back to see Catra holding her nose and mouth shut.

"Anybody else hear that adorable sneeze?" One of the Night Moon soldiers inquired. The rest of the Night Moon soldiers immediately mobilized, moving around trying to determine where they heard the sneeze. Brittni motioned for everyone to keep moving. Quietly, everybody continued to move through the vents. But this was all in vain when another soldier yelled.

"The vents! They're in the vents!" The soldier yelled out. Frosta reacted quickly. She put her hands to the vent and began injecting her magic into it, causing a barrier of ice to enshroud the vent in proximity to cover the team. A barrage of lasers began firing upon the ice-covered vent. The enchanted ice managed to block a great deal of the laser fire, but eventually, the lasers started going through.

"We're going to have to fight..." She-Ra determined. She looked to Brittni, "Brittni, we'll hold them off here. You get to the Lunarium." She-Ra commanded. Brittni shuddered for a moment then nodded.

"Be safe..." Brittni said. She-Ra then winked and swung her sword through the vent, leaving her an opening to jump out. She front-flipped out of the vent, acrobatically avoiding all the laser fire and dropped to the upstairs. When her feet landed on the upstairs, the ground quaked beneath her feet and those around her were blown away in a sonic boom. A couple of lasers were flying towards She-Ra but stopped mid-shot as they were frozen in place. She-Ra looked up to see Frosta winking at her, and jumping through the opening. Catra and Julie joined in the fray as well, firing a few potshots from their energy batons before jumping to the upstairs to claw at a few more Night Moon soldiers.

Brittni gazed at them for a few moments, almost hypnotized by their heroics. But this would have to wait, she turned away from the vent's opening and pushed towards the end in order to find the Lunarium. Soon, Brittni found a grate that led to the Lunarium. She approached it carefully and looked down into the chamber. She was around ten feet away from what appeared to be the portal. Brittni analyzed the portal: There was a rather large ring, around the size of a small airship supported by several pylons adhered to two large bases. Attached to the power conduits were a great number of electrodes. Brittni followed the trail of wires and realized they were attached to...

Glimmer?!

Brittni could see that Glimmer had been struggling and at that point she had been rendered unconscious.

"_They must be sucking out her magic to power the portal..." _Brittni surmised. Brittni then also noticed Entrapta pulling the lever that was powering the siphoning device. Brittni narrowed her eyes at Entrapta and thought, _"Entrapta... what are you doing?!" _

From the vents and apparently in the Lunarium, everybody could hear the commotion that was going on in the adjacent room. Void took an annoyance to this and expressed it, via yelling.

"Whatever's going on in the next room, fix it! We are so close to getting the portal to work! Go!" Void commanded. At her command, around half the guards ran to the next room to find out what was happening. Brittni took advantage of this distraction by readying her weapon. She noticed she was right above one of the guards and observed the rest. She counted around five other Night Moon guards plus Void. Each guard was posted at a semi-corner of the chamber with Void and one other guard near Entrapta and the portal.

Brittni then took action. She positioned herself right above the grate and kicked it open, causing it to fly right to the top of the Night Moons's head. He shrieked then groaned as he fell to the floor. Brittni then jumped down and aimed her laser pistol at the left corner, fired a shot, then aimed to the right and did the same. Brittni was careful not to aim for any particular vital spots, instead, attempting to incapacitate them instead of killing them. Both guards dropped and were screaming in pain, thus indicating that they were indeed still alive. Void growled at this situation.

"What does it take to kill you?!" Void demanded, "get her!" she shouted to the guards. The guard closest to Void brandished a sword at Brittni then ran towards her. Brittni fired a round at the charging ninja. The ninja swung his sword which caused Brittni's laser to deflect away. Brittni gasped at this action and readied herself for a sword swipe. The ninja swung at Brittni, but she held up her arm that was holding the pistol. The sword made contact with her armor but did not manage to pierce it. Brittni moved her arm forward, pushing the ninja and his sword away. She then aimed her pistol at his leg and fired a round into it. The ninja let out a scream and fell to his knees. Right as he fell, Brittni swung her leg, kicking his head, sending him flying towards the wall.

Right as Brittni was turning to face Void, the other guard approached Brittni, and swung his sword. At the very last second, Brittni shifted backward, but not without the sword leaving a minor cut on her cheek. The guard continued swinging, and Brittni attempted to dodge, but she lost her balance and fell backward. The guard then pointed his sword downward with the intent of plunging into Brittni's neck. She raised her pistol, but the guard kicked it out of her hand. Right as the blade was about to make contact with her chest, she grabbed it, holding it away from her chest. Brittni grunted and shrieked as the blade pressed ever closer to her chest.

The next move she made was a bit risky, but she was out of options. Using her right hand, she let go of the blade for a moment, losing the strength to keep it from plunging into her. Right before it pierced her armor, however, Brittni gripped the Night Moon's hand and twisted it. The guard writhed in pain as his grip loosened on the sword. Brittni then gripped the sword out of his hand and shoved the hilt end of it towards his face. The guard stumbled backward, off of Brittni, holding his nose as it bled out. Brittni then quickly scrambled to her feet, tackled the guard, and gave him a right hook to his head, knocking him out.

There was no time to celebrate victory, however, as Void joined in the action. With sword in hand, Void jumped up with the intention of plunging her sword into Brittni's skull. Brittni quickly jumped back, causing Void to instead stick her sword into her own soldier, killing him. Brittni shuddered at this action, showing her abhorrence.

"You… You just killed your own soldier!" Brittni accused.

"And yet, you refuse to kill anyone… really, it's your weakness. And that's why you won't WIN!" Void shouted as she began swinging her sword rapidly at Brittni. Brittni brandished the sword she had taken from the guard Void had just killed and attempted to defend herself. Void swung hard and swiftly at Brittni. Brittni began losing her balance again, and so, fell to the ground and rolled to the right, away from Void. Brittni was about to pick herself up when she suddenly felt hair begin to wrap around her wrist.

"What the-?!" Brittni protested as the sword was taken from her hand. She then felt more hair begin to wrap around her entire body and lifted her in the air. It was at that moment, Brittni noticed the purple. She turned to see Entrapta; her eyes glowing a neon purple. Brittni let out a gasp. "Oh, no… Entrapta! Let me down! What did Void do to you?!" Entrapta merely let out a little chuckle.

"Void showed me the truth about our lord… Horde Prime." Entrapta stated, hypnotically. Brittni struggled but could not shake herself out of Entrapta's hair. Void chuckled devilishly as she walked over to Brittni. Void cupped Brittni's chin in her hand and pulled off her own mask.

"Don't worry, darling… you should rejoice. You're going to be one of the first to witness Horde Prime in all his glory." Void jeered. As a quick afterthought, Void added, "or rather, I guess you'll be seeing him in all his glory... _again_." Brittni widened her eyes then glared at Void.

"What are you talking about? I didn't even know what Horde Prime was until a few weeks ago!" Brittni snapped.

"Oh, darling… you merely have forgotten who Horde Prime was. No matter. The portal is almost ready.

Void was correct. The portal had begun shimmering in the round pylons that manifested it. A bright green mass of energy circulated around the relays indicating that the portal was functioning. Mechanical and energy sounds began permeating the area. Glimmer looked as though all of her energy had been completely siphoned away. This entire situation looked rather grim.

"No...no!" Brittni screamed out. But her protests were in vain. The portal was functioning, and the doom of Etheria was about to commence.

Soon enough, a deep chuckle pervaded the chamber and suddenly a white boot stepped through the portal, followed by the rest of somebody. When in full view, Brittni stared in trepidation and awe at the being that stepped through the portal. This being had blue-gray skin, long bat-like ears, and a white face resembling a skull, very similar to Hordak. Unlike Hordak, the sclera in his eyes was a glowing, neon green, and had pupils. In addition to the two frontal eyes, there were two additional eyes that formed vertically on the right side. The interior of his mouth was noticeably green, with his teeth being neon-green also unlike Hordak's red teeth. In terms of wardrobe, Horde Prime wore a white-and-gray sleeveless robe with an exposed chest, dark gray narrow pants, and shoes with metal soles and toe caps. He had articulated metal claws on each index finger. Finally, emblazoned on his chest was a dark gray pattern resembling the center of the Horde insignia.

Brittni's lips quivered as she saw the rather large, intimidating being take a few steps into the room.

"Ah… Etheria. Well done, Double Trouble…" Horde Prime spoke in a voice eerily similar to Hordak's. He went over and pat Void on the head then turned his attention to Brittni, "so… it is true. This is Oracle's child?" Brittni gasped when he heard that.

"H...How do you know about Oracle?!" Brittni demanded.

"Oh, child…" Horde Prime began, "believe me, I know a great deal about Oracle…" Horde Prime let out a breathy chuckle as he stroked Brittni's cheek. Brittni maneuvered her head away and growled at Horde Prime. Horde Prime chuckled as he finished his last statement.

"After all… Oracle is my sister…"


	40. Chapter 40: God

Chapter 40: God

_Back with She-Ra, Catra, Frosta, and Julie…_

"Cover me!" Catra yelled as she got on all fours and tackled a Night Moon guard, clawing his throat open. Frosta had made a wall of ice to cover Catra as she made her move. Everybody was still on the top floor, and Night Moon soldiers kept running up the stairs trying to flank their opposition. She-Ra, Frosta, and Julie had kicked over tables and cabinets creating a makeshift cover to defend against the oncoming Night Moons. Catra was on the Western side, swiftly jumping from Night Moon to Night Moon, using her claws to plow through them. Julie would peek out of cover to take a few potshots, Frosta was trying to keep Night Moon's lasers frozen in place. She-Ra was waiting for a cluster of them to make their move towards their makeshift cover.

The opportunity arose when a large group of Night Moon arrived atop the stairs and began firing at Catra. Catra picked up the corpse she had just created and held it up, using it as a shield as she ran back to the group. Frosta put up a wall of ice to reinforce the cover, but the lasers continued to beat on the ice wall, simultaneously shattering and melting it.

"Move up!" Cairus shouted. Per his command, Night Moon laser troopers ran towards the ice wall with the intention of breaching it. Behind the laser-troopers were ninjas ready to jump into melee. She-Ra in the meanwhile readied her sword and turned to Frosta while they were both crouched down.

"You ready, Frosta?" She-Ra inquired.

"Let's do it!" Frosta shouted. As she finished her declaration, she turned to and absorbed the ice wall back into her hands. The sudden disappearance of the ice wall surprised the Night Moon soldiers and She-Ra took advantage of it. Catra and Julia popped out of cover and fired a few potshots to keep Night Moon's head down. Once lasers stopped firing on both sides, She-Ra jumped rather high from cover with her sword pointed downward, towards the cluster of soldiers. Once her sword made contact with the floor, a sonic boom sounded, sending all Night Moon soldiers flying in all different directions. Some crashed through walls, others plowed to the downstairs.

She-Ra raised her sword shouting a declaration of victory. She celebrated too early, however, as the crack that she put in the floor began spreading. A sound of splintering wood grew louder and louder until the floor beneath her feet began caving in and She-Ra fell through.

"Ah!" She-Ra screamed as she fell through, followed by mounds of debris.

"Adora!" Catra shouted as she jumped over the cover and down the hole to protect her friend. She-Ra, although not hurt incredibly badly, was nonetheless in a predicament. Not only was she buried under a great deal of rubble, but there was also rebar that fell through the floor's infrastructure and pierced one of She-Ra's legs. Catra gasped as she saw the injury. "H...Hold on, Adora! I'm gonna pull this out-" Catra began before being interrupted by She-Ra.

"Catra! Look out!" She-Ra shouted. Catra looked behind her to find a Night Moon soldier about to swipe her sword at Catra. Catra jumped to the left and ducked behind a rather large column. Seeing that she had scared Catra off, the Night Moon ninja turned her attention to She-Ra. She raised her sword and was about to swing at She-Ra's head when she was tackled rather quickly by Catra.

"Don't touch her!" Catra shouted as she brought the Night Moon ninja to the ground and swiped her claw across the ninja's cheek, tearing part of her mask off. The Night Moon ninja growled and kicked Catra off, sending her flying towards the support beam past She-Ra. Catra shrieked in pain as her back made contact with the support beam and slumped down, very fatigued. The Night Moon ninja did not want to take any chances and so ran towards Catra. Before her sword could connect with Catra's face, however, She-Ra grabbed the sword by the blade, midair, and shattered it as she clutched it. The Night Moon ninja groaned as she gazed in bewilderment at the destruction of her sword. She-Ra then pushed the rest of the debris that was covering her out of the way and cocked her right arm back, letting it fly at the ninja, sending launching her back. The Night Moon ninja blew a support column in half from the force She-Ra had used.

She-Ra began breathing hard while also coughing from the dust that had been kicked up from all the architectural destruction that had been caused by both parties in this chamber. She also groaned from the rebar that had been stuck in her leg. She ripped it out, screaming in pain. Nevertheless, the wound began closing rather quickly. She-Ra let out a sigh of relief and looked back at Catra.

"Catra!" She-Ra shouted as she ran towards Catra and lifted her head up. Catra let out a slight groan and slowly blinked her eyes.

"A...dora?" Catra inquired, hazily. She-Ra smiled.

"You're okay!" She-Ra shouted as she pulled Catra towards her and gently hugged her. Although they were in the middle of a battle, Catra could not help but take great pleasure at this current action. Catra was about to close her eyes when she gasped and screamed out.

"Adora! Look out!" Catra shouted. She-Ra quickly turned around, but it was too late. She had been hit by a few lasers from Red Armband soldiers.

"Agh!" She-Ra shouted out as she fell forward onto Catra.

"Oof!" Catra protested as she attempted to push She-Ra off, "Adora! Wake up!" She-Ra groaned as she attempted to pick herself up, but then screamed when she felt Cairus' foot shove her down onto Catra.

At this point, the group's situation became rather grim. She-Ra had transformed back into Adora from the amount of fatigue and afflictions she had faced. Catra was stuck under Adora, and also had Cairus' laser pistol aimed at her. Night Moon soldiers that had run up on Frosta and Julie also had their weapons aimed at them. Cairus moved closer to Catra, still aiming his weapon at her, then grinned.

"I think it's time to pay you back for clawing my back open..." Cairus muttered, coldly. As his finger gently squeezed the trigger, a feeling of dread, regret, and fear shivered down Catra's spine. She looked at Adora's face that was slowly coming to. Tears began filling Catra's eyes as she believed this to be the end. Maneuvering her free left hand, she placed it on top of Adora's right hand. Adora blinked a few times and saw Catra's eyes well up with tears. Catra mouthed a few words to Adora which caused her to silently gasp.

In one swift motion, Adora flipped around and grabbed hold of Cairus' pistol, aiming it up. Cairus growled as he tried to regain hold of the gun, and fired it a few times. The heat of the pistol burned Adora's hand, forcing her to release it. Cairus then used the barrel of the gun to smack Adora's face, sending her falling to the left, onto more rubble. Cairus growled again and aimed his pistol at Adora.

"Enough! This. Ends. NOW!" He said as he was about to fire the pistol.

"Leave her alone!" Catra shouted as she picked herself up and tackled Cairus.

"Gah! Get off!" Cairus shouted as he attempted to fire the pistol at Catra. Catra quickly moved her head then clamped her mouth on Cairus' wrist, causing a stream of blood to begin spraying out of it. Cairus shrieked in absolute pain as he let go of the gun. Catra then grabbed the gun and aimed it at Cairus' head and deeply glared at him. Cairus grunted as he saw the barrel aimed at his face.

"You're never going to hurt either of us, ever again," Catra muttered coldly as she pulled the trigger. The laser passed through Cairus' forehead, leaving a medium-sized, charred hole that cauterized any blood that would have come out. Cairus could not even speak a word as his lifeless body fell to the floor. Catra took a few deep breaths as she dropped the gun and ran to Adora.

"Adora? Adora! Please, please, tell me you're okay! I can't lose you again!" Catra shouted as she gripped Adora's shoulders, truly afraid that she lost her. Adora remained motionless to the trepidation of Catra. The tears in Catra's eyes began bursting as she sobbed on Adora. "No... Adora... please!" Catra shouted in disbelief. "I... I need you..."

As though those were the magic words, Adora let out a slight groan and slowly blinked her eyes. When Adora came to, she was able to see the anxiety in Catra's monochromatic eyes.

"Catra...?" Adora inquired, with a slight chuckle. Catra gasped and pulled Adora towards her, wrapping her in a tight hug. Adora chuckled a bit more and added, "huh... maybe I should have a near-death experience more often." Catra hissed.

"If you ever do this on purpose, I'll kill you myself," Catra said, facetiously.

"Oh, and did you mouth the words, 'I love you?'" Adora inquired. Catra's cheeks turned redder than the blood in the chamber.

"...Tell anybody and I really will kill you." Catra threatened, laughing. The two girls were able to have a laugh, although it remained short-lived as even more Night Moon soldiers went to the first level and trained their guns on them.

"...I spoke too soon." Catra muttered.

_Meanwhile, right as the fighting happened between Team Catra and Night Moon..._

There were around a million questions and exclamations pervading Brittni's mind as Horde Prime made that bold declaration that Oracle was his sister. There was just no way that such an evil being could be related to Oracle!

"S...Sister?!" Brittni demanded, "you're lying! There's no way something as pure and loving as Oracle could EVER be related to you!" Brittni snapped. Horde Prime folded his arms.

"It is merely the truth, my niece." Horde Prime affirmed.

"Don't you dare call me that!" Brittni snapped. Horde Prime tapped his chin.

"You and your brother inherited your mother's powers, yes? The power of observation? Don't deny it. You can hear the truth in my words." Horde Prime accused. Brittni hated to admit it, but Horde Prime did sound incredibly sincere. That, and his vocal frequencies sounding completely relaxed really manifested the truth of it. Nevertheless, Brittni refused to believe Horde Prime, still growling at him. Horde Prime merely sighed at this action and began pacing around in front of Brittni.

"Since we have a bit of time before... well... the cleansing begins, perhaps I could give you a little history lesson. Bare with me, as some of these truths may seem... incomprehensible." Horde Prime began, "it all started at the beginning of all created things in the universe. I used to live with my family in a world called the Celestial Kingdom. My... creator; who shall not be named, created Oracle, our brother, Skeletor, and myself. Together, we were known as the Creation Triumvirate. Our creator gave us charge in governing our own worlds to test us. The test was to see if we could take a planet of people and 'perfect them;' meaning that they were to become like the creator. In order to do this, the creator wanted us to regulate our worlds using the same foolish methods that he used." Brittni cocked her eyebrow at Horde Prime. She was a bit confused about this revelation that she was receiving regarding her mother.

"You're crazy. You're saying you're some kind of god? What does this all even have to do with why you're here?" Brittni demanded, impatiently. Horde Prime stopped his pacing, turned to Brittni, and grinned.

"Patience, young one." Horde Prime implored, "as I was saying when we each arrived on our respective worlds we were told to give all of the people in our worlds free will; or as we prefer to call it, 'agency.' Agency was the notion that anybody could do essentially whatever they want, and become agents unto their choices." Horde Prime then let out a sigh and his voice became more cynical as he continued, "but that's where the problem is... with that foolish plan, there was nothing but utter chaos on every inch of our planets. For instance, if there was a little girl that was abducted, it was allowed. If someone decided to rob another person at gunpoint, it was allowed. If entire nations decided to take up arms and destroy another nation for the sake of resources or merely pride... it was allowed." Horde Prime muttered as he slammed his fist on a table, and let out a low growl. He then took a deep breath and gently pulled his fist away.

"I told the creator that his plan was ineffective and cruel. I then came up with my own plan. I would _force_ all of my people to live in righteousness. If anybody attempted to attack, steal, or perform any manner of sin... they would immediately be... corrected. And if death was the only way for somebody to learn... so be it. After a while, it seemed that none of my people would bow to my will. At that point, I had to eradicate the planet and everyone on it." Brittni blinked a few times.

"You destroyed an entire planet?! Because they didn't listen to you?!" Brittni accused.

"I was the ruler of that planet! If they refused to obey, they didn't deserve life!" Horde Prime shouted, "so I found the only way to make sure that I could 'perfect' everyone was to regenerate them from the perfect template: Me. After I destroyed everyone, I took their genetic tissue and used it to clone myself. After a long while, with all of my cloning, I amassed an army of perfect people. When I returned to the creator with the news that I perfected my people... he was abhorred by my actions. We entered into a rather heated debate and he had me banished from the Celestial Kingdom. I boarded my starship and left. I first went to Skeletor's planet and realized that he merely took the magical energy from the planet and left. So I took the people that lived there and did the same thing. One by one I conquered planet after planet, continuing to perfect everyone by making them in my image..." Horde Prime then marched right up to Brittni and looked her dead in the eyes, "and that's what brings me here to Etheria... my sister's planet."

"You... You...!" Brittni stammered as she did know exactly how to express her absolute revulsion to everything Horde Prime had just said, "you... monster! You evil, psychotic, monster! You think you're a god?! That you can just take people and change them into you, just because they don't live up to your standards?!" Brittni growled. Horde Prime grinned, devilishly.

"Yes. I do." Horde Prime muttered while chuckling. "Did you forget what I said about all the criminals, murderers, and wars on my planet? Destroying them and transforming them into a clone of me was mercy."

"Keep telling yourself that, you tyrant. You're just an evil nutcase on a powertrip." Brittni sneered. Horde Prime sighed and was about to speak until Brittni continued, "maybe you just suck at ruling! Did you ever consider that maybe it was YOUR fault that your planet failed? You're not perfect! You just failed so hard at it you had to try and make it easier on yourself!" Brittni snapped. Horde Prime blinked his eyes a few times, and for the first time, Brittni saw a bit of anger creep on Horde Prime's face. He turned around and walked away from Brittni.

"Clearly we'll get nowhere debating morality... but we needn't be enemies, my niece. After all, if you could learn from those people's mistakes and do my every bidding, then you could not only live but thrive." Horde Prime offered, turning back to her. Brittni glared deeply at Horde Prime.

"If you think I want any part of your insanity, you're more deluded than I thought. My friends will come. I will get out of here. And when that happens, we WILL stop you!" Brittni threatened as she struggled while snagged within Entrapta's hair. Void tisked at this action.

"Don't bother struggling, darling. Entrapta's hair could lift and heave a Whispering Wood's spider a hundred meters." Void explained. Brittni growled and Horde Prime sighed, backing away from Brittni.

"You disappoint me, Brittni. I thought you were the more rational twin..." Horde Prime sighed, "but, no matter. Soon enough this planet will be revealed and my fleet will arrive. Those who resist will be destroyed and recycled for future clones." Horde Prime declared. Brittni shuddered.

"...Revealed?" Brittni inquired.

"Oh, yes... Oracle has done a wonderful job of cloaking this planet. But soon enough... even that won't protect it..."

_Back with Team Catra...___

Adora shuddered and Catra merely glared at the Night Moon soldiers as they had their guns trained on the two girls. With all the dignity they had left, the two girls embraced each other, ready to face their end… however… this would not be the case.

Just as the two girls accepted their fate, they heard a very familiar voice from right above them.

"Shield your eyes!" An excited, deep voice commanded. Recognizing the voice, Catra and Adora covered their eyes. The moment they did, they heard a spring followed by a slight explosion. The Night Moon soldiers had been disoriented; judging by their behavior of rubbing their eyes and stumbling into each other, one could assume they were blinded. This was confirmed by the following statement:

"I… I can't see!" One Night Moon shouted.

"Flashbang!" Another shouted.

These series of protests were followed by a series of groans and shrieks, then suddenly, silence. When Catra and Adora opened their eyes they were pleased to see Brett and Bow, standing, victoriously above their foes. Catra and Adora blinked their eyes rapidly; not only because of the flashbang but because of their surprise in Brett and Bow's abilities. The boys walked over to the girls and held out their hands.

"May we help you up?" The boys offered, simultaneously as a joke. Catra and Adora switched glances at each other then smacked the boys' hands out of the way, picking themselves up. Brett and Bow could not help but laugh at the feistiness of the girls.

"All jokes aside, we're glad you're okay." Bow assured them.

"Thanks, Bow," Adora said, smiling. Her face then gave a worried expression, "wait, where are Frosta and Julie?" Almost as if Adora were a clairvoyant, Frosta and Julie made their way down the opposite staircase. Frosta's jaw dropped when Brett turned to her.

Both seemed to gaze at each other as if neither knew exactly how to feel about one another. On one hand, Frosta still felt enmity towards Brett because of what he had done to her and her kingdom. On the other hand, Brett was still distrustful towards princesses… yet felt a great deal of guilt for nearly killing her in such a violent matter. The entire chamber, despite all its inhabitants, was completely silent. Finally, the silence was broken when Catra groaned.

"Uh, HELLO?! We're here to stop Horde Prime!" Catra snapped. Everybody audibly agreed and proceeded cautiously to the entrance of the Lunarium. Adora was the first to grip the doorknob. She took a deep breath, unsheathed her sword and shouted,

"For the honor of Grayskull!" As she shouted that, Adora became She-Ra. Despite boasting her now superhuman strength and speed, she still could not help but feel a great deal of anxiety. She turned her head to the group and inquired, "everybody ready?" The group nodded in acknowledgment. She-Ra then turned back to the door, took a deep breath, and shoved it open. The moment they barged in, they saw Brittni being held by Entrapta, and Glimmer unconscious in her chair.

"Brittni!" She-Ra and Bow shouted while Frosta gasped at seeing Glimmer.

"Adora! Bow! Catra! BRETT! … And everyone else! I knew you'd come for me!" Brittni jubilated.

"Glimmer!" Frosta yelled out. Brett in the meanwhile was visibly confused.

"...En...Entrapta?" Brett inquired.

"I'm afraid your dear Entrapta is no longer here…" A very familiar voice said from behind one of the pillars. Void stepped out from the pillar, revealing herself.

"You… You're the leader of Night Moon! Oh, when I get my hands on you!" Brett threatened, taking a step towards. Void held up a remote of some sort and tisked.

"Tsk, tsk. Take one more step and I blow your precious Entrapta, sky-high." Void threatened. Brett growled.

"You twisted little… Let Entrapta and my sister go!" Brett commanded.

"I'm afraid that won't be happening, my dear nephew…" An enigmatic voice said from behind the portal. Horde Prime walked around the portal, revealing himself to the group. The group was stunned; most especially Brett, Catra and She-Ra, as Horde Prime looked identical to Hordak.

"Hordak…?" Catra inquired.

"No… it's Horde Prime!" Brittni shouted.

"Horde Prime…" She-Ra muttered. She then glared at Horde Prime and brandished her sword at him, "let our friends go!" Horde Prime merely chuckled at this request.

"I think not, She-Ra, my old nemesis." Horde Prime muttered, enigmatically. She-Ra cocked her eyebrows.

"'Old Nemesis?' I've never seen you before in my life!" She-Ra snapped.

"You're not the first She-Ra… but you're certainly the last. I first encountered your predecessor a millennia ago. That was back when your ancestor's twin brother, Adam, was fighting my brother, Skeletor." Horde Prime explained.

"We don't care about your little history lesson! Get away from my Glimmer!" Frosta shouted as she conjured ice spikes in each hand and shot them towards Horde Prime. Horde Prime chuckled as he simply smacked one of the ice spikes out of the way and gripped the other in his clutch. With a loud snap and crack, the ice spike shattered in his hand.

"Temper, temper, little Frosta. You had such potential when you were a part of Night Moon… ah, but we have ways of dealing with traitors." Horde Prime muttered as his right arm began a drastic transformation. His arm began being coated with some kind of a white, metallic surface that formed around his arm until it looked as though it had been replaced with a cannon of some sort. Before anyone could react, Horde Prime aimed his arm-cannon at the group. A surge of green energy began forming at the muzzle end of the cannon until a flash propelled a large ball of green plasma towards the group.

"Move!" Brett yelled. The group on either side dove in separate directions; to the left and to the right as the ball of plasma struck the ground near them. A conflagration of green energy exploded the area, sending those that dove away, flying even further. Horde Prime chuckled at this notion.

"Double Trouble, when you said these were the best that Etheria had to offer, I was hoping for more of a challenge.

"Here's a challenge for ya!" Catra shrieked as she got on all fours and ran up the wall to the left of Horde Prime. Before he could react, Catra kicked herself off the wall and lunged at Horde Prime, taking a swipe at his face. Her four clawed barrage managed to slice open his left cheek. After Horde Prime screamed in pain, he growled as green fluid began seeping out of the cut where he was struck. When Catra landed, Horde Prime reacted quickly, slamming his arm-cannon at Catra's head, rendering her unconscious.

"Impressive. Maybe I was a little too quick to underestimate you…" Horde Prime muttered.

"Catra!" She-Ra shouted out as she picked herself up from the energy blast that Horde Prime fired at the group. She glared at Horde Prime and began charging at him. Horde Prime raised his arm-cannon and fired another shot at She-Ra. As the ball of energy flew towards her, She-Ra squared up her body and swung her sword like a baseball bat at the plasma. Although she did manage to deflect the shot off towards her left, the overall force it took to do so, knocked She-Ra on her back. The ball of energy smacked into a wall, blowing it wide open and leaving a green residue, outlining the damage. It was at this time where Brett and Bow had picked themselves up. Brett unsheathed his energy batons and Bow readied his weapon.

"Cover me!" Brett shouted to Bow as he ran towards Horde Prime. Bow nodded and fired a flashbang arrow towards Horde Prime. As the arrow struck Horde Prime, the flash lit up the room, blinding two of Horde Prime's eyes. Brett's helmet had shielded his eyes from the flash and so, he continued on. He ignited his energy batons and jumped up with the intention of striking Horde Prime in the face. Before he could do so, however, Horde Prime raised his left arm, brandishing a transparent energy shield. When Brett's batons' energy connected with Horde Prime's shield, the surge of electricity knocked Brett back on his back.

"Oof!" Brett coughed as he hit the floor. He was about to pick himself up when Void joined in the action. She swung her swords at Brett while he was prone. He managed to dodge while rolling to the right. Void swung at the right, so Brett rolled to the left.

"Die!" Void shrieked as she began a flurry of swipes. Brett held up his batons with the intent of blocking each sword swipe, but he was unable to stave off her fury. Void easily managed to knock the batons out of Brett's hands. She again raised her swords with the intent of killing him, but Bow stepped in to save Brett. Bow fired a barrage of arrows that knocked Void's swords out of her hands. She gasped at the accuracy and speed of Bow and so did a few backflips off and away from Brett, simultaneously grabbing her swords midair. She let out a growl and turned to Horde Prime.

"Father, we need to activate the planetary shift!" Void surmised. Horde Prime nodded and turned to Entrapta as she was still tightly holding onto Brittni.

"Entrapta. Do it." Horde Prime ordered. Entrapta's eyes glowed a neon green as she nodded and moved over to the portal. There were buttons and knobs on the side that she began turning and pushing. Brittni began to protest.

"No! Entrapta! Please don't! Fight it! Don't let Horde Prime control you!" Brittni begged. Entrapta acted as though she heard nothing. Bow and Horde Prime became engaged in a shootout while Brett picked himself up and began fighting with Void again. In between swipes and collisions of their weapons, Brett would attempt to reach Entrapta.

"Entrapta! Ergh! Entrapta! Please- Yah! It's me, Brett! I'm your friend! I- Agh! Entrapta!" Brett and Void were locked in their melee weapons. Both peered close to one another as their weapons were holding each other in place. Brett attempted one more time to reach out.

"Entrapta! I… I love you!" Brett declared. Once he did that, Entrapta stopped her work. She stood there motionless for a few moments, then slowly turned towards Brett.

"B...Brett?" Entrapta inquired. Horde Prime growled at this action.

"Enough of this!" Horde Prime shouted. As another of Bow's arrows flew at him, he grabbed it midair and threw it back at Bow, hitting the weapon out of his hands. Horde Prime then stomped over to Entrapta and shoved her out of the way in order to finish what she had started.

It was at that moment that Entrapta's hair loosened its grip on Brittni and so Brittni was let loose. She ran towards Horde Prime and stuck her energy baton in his back. As the voltage flowed from the baton into Horde Prime, he merely turned back.

"Thanks for the energy boost, my niece." Horde Prime declared as he raised his left arm and backhanded Brittni.

"Brittni!" Brett shouted, still fighting with Void. As Brittni flew to the ground she raised her foot and shoved it to the back of Horde Prime's leg, causing him to fall to his knees.

"Agh! You little…" Horde Prime muttered. But he did not have time to deal with Brittni. He pressed a few more buttons and reached his finger to flip a switch. Right before he could do that, Brittni grabbed his hand and tried to pull it back. Both forces were fighting desperately towards the switch.

"My… Will… Is… ETERNAL!" Horde Prime shouted as he put forth just enough strength to flip the switch. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then all of a sudden, a massive seismic tremor began shaking the entire room. The roof of the Lunarium was ripped off and began flying towards the sky. As everyone looked skyward, all but Horde Prime and Void had their mouths agape in utter trepidation and shock. Up in the sky was some kind of swirling vortex. Everything around the Lunarium began flying towards the vortex in the sky as though they were metals being pulled by a magnet. Brittni let out a shriek of fear and closed her eyes until... she heard a voice.

"Brittni..."

"...Mom!"

**So, I haven't done one of these little chat things for like, what? 15 chapter? I dunno. Anyway! Thanks so much for reading. How about that series finale? Gotta admit I teared up several times. :') I absolutely adore this show and I'm grateful that it led to me writing this fanfic. Sadly, after today I will have to revert to my twice a month rather than every week again. My family and I are moving and so I will need all the time I can get to pack and be ready as we begin our journey. Thanks again for reading!**


	41. Chapter 41: Memory Shift (Part 1)

Chapter 41: Memory Shift (Part 1)

"No… You can't do this…! NO!"

"Brittni? Brittni! Wake up!"

Cold sweat and a feeling of trepidation were the ingredients to how Brittni was feeling when she was awoken. Deep, hyperventilating breaths of air replaced Brittni's screaming until she regained her composure.

"A...dora?" Brittni inquired. Sure enough, as Brittni looked around, she found herself in her and Brett's room. Adora was sitting on Brittni's bed with her hand on Brittni's shoulder. Adora closed her eyes and smiled.

"No duh! O'course it's me." Adora lightly giggled, "You having a bad dream or something?" Brittni blinked her eyes a few times as she gazed at Adora. For a few moments, Brittni said nothing but retained the petrified, unsure look on her face. After a few moments, Adora's mouth and eyebrows shifted downward, "you okay?" Brittni shook her head to snap back to reality and cleared her throat.

"Oh, uh… y-yeah. I'm fine." Brittni's words came out awkwardly. She scratched the back of her neck and added, "sorry, I guess it's one of those moments when you're trying to remember a dream, but the more you try, the more you forget, y'know?" Brittni explained. Adora nodded and Brittni continued, "it's like… I can almost remember… I think we were in a battle of some kind. Adora cocked her eyebrow.

"A battle? Awesome! Like against the Rebellion?" Adora inquired. Brittni slowly shook her head.

"No… it's like… I almost remember fighting against a green-eyed version of Lord Hordak." Brittni explained. Adora merely smirked at this explanation.

"Well, that definitely was a dream. Lord Hordy is the one leading us to victory!" Adora said, assuredly. She stood up from the bed and added, "I mean, you do remember how we took over Thaymor, right? You and Brett were so excited after beating the rebels at Elberon, you both couldn't wait for the next mission!" Adora declared, waving her hands in the air. Brittni continued to gaze at Adora with unsurety.

"Adora…? You're acting... kinda weird." Brittni observed. Adora cocked her eyebrow at Brittni.

"Not sure what you mean, but whatever!" Adora said, brushing off Brittni's observation. Brittni eyed Adora suspiciously but then shook her head, letting it go. Brittni knew that she needed to focus on remembering. And slowly but surely, Brittni did begin to remember.

"Elberon… where… where we were betrayed by Vultak and we captured the mayor?" Brittni inquired. She then thought about Thaymor, "and… Thaymor, they had those rebels that were mounted on those… those large muscular animals called horses? And, their little magic ritual that they called a 'festival?'"

"Yes!" Adora said excitedly, "now you remember, dude!" Although Brittni did have these memories, some of them felt almost fabricated. Before Brittni could inquire further, Adora gasped and reached out her hand, "oh, man. I forgot! I came in here because you overslept! You're wanted at the clinic, asap. We still have, like, a ton of wounded soldiers from the siege of Thaymor. Hordak wants them healed up and battle-ready as soon as possible!" Adora indicated. With hesitation, Brittni reached out her hand, to which Adora grasped it and pulled Brittni out of bed. Brittni quickly dressed in her nursing scrubs and made her way out of the room with Adora.

As Brittni walked out, she saw the hustle and bustle of daily Horde military and labor forces going about their business. Everything seemed so normal, and yet Brittni could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Nevertheless, she pushed aside her concerns and heeded the call to her medical duties. As she walked into the infirmary, she saw a multitude of soldiers and civilians with a wide variety of contusions and lacerations.

"I'll leave you to it. I need to jet; if you know what I mean." Adora said as she moved away from Brittni, "I don't know how you stomach all this blood and gore, but I guess that's why you were chosen to be a nurse. Later, Britt." Adora said as she walked away. Brittni looked back at Adora and cocked her eyebrow.

_"Something's weird about Adora…" _Brittni muttered to herself. _"Somehow, I remember her being more… serious." _ Regardless of Adora's strange behavior, Brittni shook her head and went into the clinic to begin her work. It was indeed a bloodbath in there and Brittni knew she had a long day ahead of her. Before she could begin any treatments, she was greeted by Keirnan in the front lobby going over charts as the rest of the medical workers were rushing patients in and out of rooms.

"Brittni. You're late." Keirnan said in a rather stern tone. Brittni was taken aback by Keirnan's gruffness.

"Oh, uh, sorry, Keirnan-" Brittni began to apologize before being reprimanded.

"That's Head Nurse to you, young lady." Keirnan snapped. Brittni gazed at Keirnan with perturbation.

"I...I'm sorry, Head Nurse," Brittni said, almost awkwardly. Keirnan let out a gruff scoff.

"At any rate, this entire floor is beyond max capacity. Every floor is double roomed," Keirnan explained. Brittni nodded.

"I understand," Brittni said as she headed towards the lobby. She did not take many steps when Keirnan stopped her.

"I actually have a special case for you. There's some blue nutjob our soldiers captured. She keeps claiming some weird stuff about the 'Celestial Kingdom,' 'Horde Prime,' and how nothing we're experiencing is real… or whatever." Keirnan explained. Brittni narrowed her eyes at Keirnan and trembled a bit. Something about the Celestial Kingdom and Horde Prime sounded familiar… but what really hit Brittni was the last statement.

"Not...real?" Brittni inquired almost as though she were really questioning reality. Keirnan let out another scoff.

"Yeah, she's a loon," Keirnan said as he handed over the file. Brittni took a good look at it and saw the picture. Sure enough, it was a picture of a sky blue-skinned woman with a silver dress and glowing yellow eyes. Brittni stared hard at the picture. There was a feeling building up inside her that brought out a sense of familiarity.

"Do I… Know this woman?" Brittni inquired.

"Funny you ask. She actually asked for you by name." Keirnan explained. Brittni cocked her eyebrow.

"Asked for me…? But why?" Brittni inquired. Keirnan dropped his clipboard aggressively on the front desk and stood up.

"Do you always question me this much? Need I remind you that we've got a lot of people that need urgent care in here? Now get to that psychopath, find out what she knows and lemme know when you're done so I can send her to Beast Island." Keirnan snapped. Brittni was completely caught off guard by Keirnan's gruffness. For some reason, she always remembered Keirnan as a nice, loving, and patient man. Brittni then nodded and made her way to the patient's room. On her way, Brittni's suspicion that something was seriously wrong grew to the point that she was hoping that this supposedly crazy woman could answer her questions.

As Brittni entered the door, sure enough, she found the blue woman restrained against the bed with two Horde soldiers on two sides of the room monitoring her. The blue woman was struggling mightly against her bonds until she gazed at Brittni.

"It's you… You're finally here! Brittni!" The woman declared. Brittni gazed at the woman with complete confusion.

"I'm… sorry, do I know you?" Brittni inquired. The woman let out a deep groan.

"Oh, no… the memory shift has already been applied, hasn't it? Oh, Brittni, you need to fight Horde Prime's control! You need to remember!" The blue woman shouted as she continued to struggle against her bonds.

"That's enough outta you!" One of the soldiers shouted as he was about to plunge his energy baton into the woman's neck. Right before he could, Brittni quickly ran over and grasped the baton. The electricity surging from the end of the barrel licked the woman's neck but otherwise did not harm her. The soldier growled at Brittni as she pulled her hand away from the baton.

"Please, don't harm her. Keirn- I mean, the Head Nurse told me to get whatever information I can from her." Brittni explained. The soldier grunted but then nodded. Brittni then moved over to the woman, "Hey, it's okay. You'll be fine." Brittni then turned to the soldiers, "could I get a little privacy? This shouldn't take long." The soldiers looked at each other and shrugged their soldiers.

"Fine, but if she attacks, that's on you." One of the soldiers sneered as they both left. With the two individuals left alone in the room, Brittni pulled up a chair and began to inquire of the woman.

"Who are you?" Brittni demanded, pointing an accusatory finger, "how do you know my name, and why does everyone seem... off?" The woman merely smiled and a tear fell down her face as she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, Brittni. I was beginning to believe I would never be able to reach you." The woman declared. Brittni grew impatient.

"Answer my questions! Who are you?!" Brittni snapped. The woman closed her eyes and nodded.

"Very well… Brittni, I am your mother. My name is Oracle." Oracle declared. Brittni's eyes grew wide and formed a partial glare. Brittni opened her mouth to respond but Oracle held up a hand, "please, let me explain. At the moment, you, your companions, and sadly myself, have been captured by Horde Prime."

"My mother?!" Brittni demanded, "and... Horde… Prime?" Brittni inquired. Oracle nodded.

"Indeed. It will all make sense, soon enough. And I'm guessing you slightly remember the encounter with Horde Prime. He looked very much like Hordak, though he had four green eyes, white attire, and hair that resembled dreadlocks?" Oracle explained. Brittni shuddered, as she did slightly remember a brief memory of Prime. Suddenly, Brittni felt a very slight shock on the nape of her neck. She then shook her head and pushed the memory away.

"No..." Brittni muttered, standing up, "everything you're saying is crazy. No way is that true. Everything's just fine here." Brittni snapped.

"It is, daughter! If you merely touch my hand, the truth will manifest onto you!" Oracle beseeched. Brittni took a few steps back, knocking the chair back.

"Don't touch me! You... you're just a crazy lady!" Brittni accused.

"Brittni, please!" Oracle pleaded, "you felt a little shock on your neck just now, didn't you? It's Horde Prime deterring you from the truth!" Brittni scoffed.

"...I don't know what you're talking about..." Brittni lied. Before Oracle could say anything else, Brittni added, "I don't have time for this. I have other serious patients to deal with." Brittni then marched out of the room with Oracle screaming out for imploration.

"...Keep an eye on her." Brittni said to the two soldiers as she walked out to go help out with the other patients.

As Brittni began her procedures; although focused on healing her patients, she could not shake the information that Oracle had given her. Something about the things Oracle said; it was almost as if the truth was manifesting until Brittni felt that little shock on her neck. Barring these thoughts, Brittni looked at her chart and found her next patient would be...

Catra?!

"_Oh, great..." _Brittni thought to herself, _"Catra's probably going to say it's my fault that she's here in the first place and that I'm doing a horrible job."_ The moment that Brittni walked into Catra's room, however...

"Oh, Nurse Brittni! Thank goodness you're finally here. Oh, the pain is just too great!" Catra wailed out the moment she saw Brittni. Brittni widened her eyes suspiciously at Catra.

"...Catra?" Brittni inquired, confused. Catra was laying on the hospital bed, writhing in pain. She had a couple of laser wounds at her torso and what appeared to be a broken leg.

"Ohhh... well, it's my fault, really." Catra proclaimed, "I mean, I should have reacted quicker to the mines."

"M...Mines?" Brittni stuttered. Catra let out a groan and nodded.

"Yeah, if I had been a better scout, I could have saved more of our soldiers..." Catra sighed, "I don't deserve to be here right now." A few tears began pouring down Catra's cheek. As Brittni moved closer to begin her treatments on Catra, Brittni inquired of her.

"Catra, this might be a weird question, but... have you always been this... humble?" Brittni inquired. Catra let out a slight wince of pain.

"Oh, Nurse Brittni, I could be so much more humble. I get upset way too easily." Catra said, matter-of-factly, "I mean, just the other day when Scorpia took my gray ration bar, I hissed at her." Brittni cocked her eyebrow at Catra.

"Scorpia? As in, kind-hearted, hugs everything in sight, completely obsessed with you-Scorpia?!" Brittni demanded, rather confused as she tied the splint on Catra's leg. Catra eyed Brittni suspiciously

"No... more like sting you in the back, pincer your arms off, Scorpia. But, never mind that I'm being rude. Obviously, Scorpia was hungry. I could have been so much nicer." Catra admitted.

At that moment, Brittni definitely felt something off about everything. Brittni had a few memories of Catra, and they most definitely were not pleasant ones. It was as though there were memories from two different memory banks attempting to shove their own interpretations into Brittni's brain. These two sources seemed to conflict, deeply and Brittni did not know which memory to believe. For instance, Brittni thoroughly remembered when they were kids that she saw Catra crying and Adora attempting to comfort her. Catra scratched Adora and vowed to never apologize to anyone. Yet, the Catra in front of her was in complete contrast to the Catra in Brittni's memory. No... something was definitely wrong.

"_Oracle..." _Brittni thought to herself as she finished treating Catra, _"Oh, no... Oracle must have been right. I have to find her!" _As Brittni finished her thought process, she quickly made her exit.

"Uh, you're good to go, Catra. Stay off that leg for a little while and take these antibiotics for the burn wounds!" Brittni cautioned as she ran out of the room. Catra looked at the bottle.

"Brittni, these are multivitamin gummies-" Catra began to say before Brittni was already gone.

Brittni ran to the room where Oracle was but could not find her. Her heart sank as she remembered that Keirnan said she would be sent to Beast Island. A chill ran down her spine as she imagined the worse for Oracle. Without hesitation, Brittni ran back to the front desk where Keirnan was. He looked up with narrowed eyes at Brittni. Before he could speak, Brittni cut him off.

"Keirnan, what did you do with Oracle? Where is she?!" Brittni demanded. Keirnan glared at Brittni.

"Your tone is borderline insubordinate, nurse. You will address me as-" Keirnan began before Brittni interrupted him.

"What did you do with her?!" Brittni demanded. Keirnan jumped up from his seat and growled.

"Your little blue friend is on a one-way ticket to Beast Island!" Keirnan snapped, "now get back to work!" Brittni's lip quivered as those damning words came out of Keirnan's mouth.

"N...No, no I need her!" Brittni exclaimed as she headed for the doors of the clinic.

"Hey, wait! Get back here and finish your shift!" Keirnan shouted. Brittni merely ignored Keirnan and bounded out of the clinic. Brittni indiscriminately shoved several workers and soldiers as she made her way towards the vehicle bay. Unfortunately, during these rude gestures, Brittni made the mistake of running into the back of a rather tall, scorpion-human hybrid.

"Oof! Ugh... oh, sorry, Scorpia-" Brittni began to apologize until Scorpia turned around with a face completely full of rage. Brittni blinked a few times then sighed.

"Okay, it seems like everyone in the present has the complete opposite personality than the one in my memories... so that means..." Brittni inferred as Scorpia grabbed Brittni by the collar of her scrubs and lifted her several feet into the air.

Although Brittni's heart was already pounding from the makeshift cardio that she had just performed, it was now feeling as though it was going to burst through her chest from the fear Scropia put in her.

"Why don't you look where you're going, squirt!" Scorpia snapped.

"I'm sorry, Scorpia, I was just-" Brittni began before Scorpia interrupted her.

"Honestly, I don't even know why the Horde bothers keeping a weak little insect like _you _around!" Scorpia sneered. Brittni blinked her eyes a few times then glared.

"You know, scorpions are barely a step up from an insect." Brittni snapped back. Unbeknownst to the two, a crowd had gathered around them. A few quiet gasps and murmurs began permeating through the crowd. Although Scorpia had an enraged countenance prior to Brittni's insult, her cheeks began turning a brighter red than her carapace.

"Why, you...!" Scorpia growled as she cocked back her right claw with the intention of massacring Brittni's skull. Brittni struggled to get away but instead closed her eyes, waiting for the blow. Brittni did hear a blow and the next moment, she fell to the ground. Groaning as she opened her eyes, Brittni saw Scorpia fly into a crowd of onlookers, knocking them down like bowling pins. Brittni turned to see who or what caused this and saw none other than...

Rogelio?

Rogelio let out a deep roar as he raised his fists in the sky. He then looked to Brittni and gave her a thumbs up. Brittni picked herself up and chuckled.

"Hey, thanks, big guy!" Brittni said. Rogelio took a small bow and... spoke?!

"Ah, but of course, my dear Nurse Brittni. It was my utmost pleasure to be of service to you." Rogelio spoke, rather eloquently. Brittni's jaw dropped.

"You... You can talk?!" Brittni demanded. Rogelio tilted his head.

"But, of course! Through the study of various linguistics, I've become rather articulate, despite my species' normal inhibition to speech." Rogelio, again, articulated. Brittni continued to blink her eyes.

"Of course you did..." Brittni sighed, happily. The happiness was cut short, however, as Scorpia picked herself up and let out an inhuman growl.

"You're dead, lizard!" Scorpia growled as she trudged towards Rogelio.

"Yo! Stay away from my man!" Kyle shouted out, running at Scorpia and attempting to tackle her. Scorpia's exoskeleton prevented that from happening, causing him to fly backward. Despite the embarrassment, Brittni was still impressed with Kyle's determination.

"Kyle grew a spine?! What world am I in?!" Brittni demanded. However, she did not have time to speculate this any further. Brittni had to get to Oracle before it was too late! As Scorpia ran at Rogelio, a huge brawl began between them and the rest of the crowd that was watching. If nothing else, this served as a distraction as Brittni made her way to the vehicle bay. Sure enough on her way to the vehicle bay, Brittni found a group of soldiers taking a hospital gurney carrying an unconscious Oracle into the vehicle bay.

Once she made it to the double door into the vehicle bay, Brittni quickly shoved the automatic doors aside and yelled.

"Stop! Wait! I need her!" Brittni hollered out. The group of soldiers stopped their pacing. Slowly, they turned towards Brittni, almost robotically. Three of the soldiers donned standard-issue Horde armor while the fourth's armor was dark blue and had a symbol of a wrench where the Horde insignia would normally be.

Brett!

"Man, am I glad to see you, Brett!" Brittni shouted out.

"Brittni... sister," Brett spoke out, rather strangely. "Lord Prime has been expecting you."

The moment that Brett said those words, Brittni's heart sank and a flood of memories began rushing through her mind. Suddenly, Brittni audibly and physically shuddered, and she finally remembered everything.

"Wait... WAIT! Brett! It's Horde Prime! I remember now!" Brittni indicated. Brett and the three other soldiers said nothing but slowly removed their helmets. When their helmets were removed, Brittni saw a strange green glow to their eyes. Brittni let out a gasp and choked on a slight sob.

"Oh... oh, no. No! Brett!" Brittni cried out. Brittni remembered when Horde Prime took control of Entrapta. Brittni retreated a few steps, unsure of how to proceed other than diplomacy, "Brett! Wait, it's me! I'm your sister!" Brett's mouth slowly curved into an unnerving grin.

"There is no Brett… there is only Horde Prime." Brett muttered, robotically.

A few more tears began strewing down Brittni's cheek as she felt completely helpless. Brittni was not donning her armor nor any weapons, plus she was pitted against her brother and three fully armed soldiers. She bit her lip looking around for anything in the room to tip the scales.

"Take her," Brett ordered the three soldiers. Per his command, the three soldiers pulled the energy batons from their holsters and slowly approached Brittni. She quickly observed their movements and figured out their formation. They were going to attempt to triangulate around her. With one soldier to her left, one to the right, and one to the front, Brittni squared her body up and waited for the first to make their move.

The one to her left had had her finger on the projectile trigger while the other two had their fingers on the shock triggers. Readying herself by switching glances between the three soldiers, Brittni saw the one on her left squeeze the projectile trigger. As the laser flew from the barrel towards Brittni, she ran forward and rolled towards the one in front of her. While the laser that was meant to hit her, but hit the soldier on her right, Brittni got up from her roll and sent a major left uppercut on the soldier in front of her, sending his helmet flying off his head, and sending his body to the ground. Brittni then grabbed the baton out of the soldier's hand and aimed it at the one that was to her left. Simultaneously, the two fired their lasers, sending a shockwave between the two. The soldier got the worst of it because she flew into a skiff, leaving a metal imprint on it, while Brittni merely flew back. Brittni took a few moments to catch her breath, though it was stopped when she felt a cold, armored hand grab her by the neck and pick her up. The hand belonged to none other than Brett.

Brittni flopped around and gasped for any air that she could receive. As she choked from Brett lifting her up, his soulless, glowing green eyes stared apathetically at her. Brittni gripped his hand trying to rip it from her neck, but his power armor was too strong.

"Look at you, Brittni. This all could have been avoided if you just accepted Lord Prime's will." Brett muttered. Brittni, while maintaining eye contact with Brett, quickly stuck her energy baton into Brett's side and pulled the projectile trigger. Right before the laser went off, Brett, with the strength of his power armor, heaved Brittni towards a skiff, knocking her back into the side. Brittni let out a shriek and a groan as she slid down the skiff. Brittni quickly shook her head and saw Brett running at her, his fist ready to strike her. Right before his fist made contact, Brittni moved a little to the right, which caused him to punch a hole through the skiff. She then grabbed hold of his head and bashed it against the skiff, seemingly knocking him out. Brittni shuddered at the action she just took and stepped back a few paces.

"B...Brett?" Brittni inquired. Brett immediately tore his head from the skiff and grinned creepily at Brittni.

"Lord Prime didn't think you had it in you to actually harm your brother!" Brett muttered in an almost distorted voice. He pulled his fist out and ran at Brittni with his energy baton raised. As he swung viciously at Brittni, she parried each swipe with her own baton. This would go on for a few minutes as Brett swung and Brittni kept moving back, parrying. As they moved, a certain memory came to Brittni and she said one simple thing:

"Elberon!" Brittni declared. Brett stopped his attacks and jumped back a couple of feet, keeping his weapon ready.

"What?" Brett inquired.

"Re...Remember at Elberon when… when we captured the king… and when we went through the mirror maze… and…" Brittni began, though she began to lose her breath. Brett slightly shuddered as Brittni helped him reminisce. The glow in Brett's eyes began dissipating and he started groaning. Brett put his hand to his head and groaned even louder.

"I… Can't… Fight it!" Brett declared. "Just… Get outta here… sis!" Brett said as he raised the baton to his neck and turned the shock value to one hundred. As the volts surged through his body, Brett was severely knocked out. He collapsed onto the floor, to which Brittni ran to him.

"Brett! Oh, no…" Brittni gasped as she felt for a pulse. Although his telemetry was irregular, he would live. Suddenly, Brittni heard a voice behind her.

"Brittni…" Oracle said, weakly. Brittni turned and ran to Oracle, and removed her restraints. Oracle smiled as she said her next words, "oh, my daughter, thank you." Brittni smiled as a few tears began strewing down her face.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Brittni said as she wrapped her arms around Oracle. Oracle hugged back and smiled.

"It is alright… but, listen. We need to move, now." Oracle cautioned. Brittni nodded and helped Oracle out of the gurney. Brittni looked around for any kind of jet that would get them out of the Fright Zone quickly.

"Ugh, but we need keys to activate the jets." Brittni groaned. Oracle smiled.

"Follow me, child," Oracle said as she began walking towards a particular jet. Confused, but willing, Brittni followed Oracle to the jet. As Oracle approached the passenger door, Brittni cocked her eyebrow. Oracle then knocked a few times.

"Yo! is that you, Bluey?!" A familiar voice inquired. Oracle let out a stifled sigh.

"Yes, Adora." Oracle said, putting her hand to her head, "do I ever miss the old Adora…" A few moments later, the passenger door opened, and two characters were revealed. A euphoric, borderline stoned, Adora, and an apprehensively agitated Catra sitting on a passenger chair, hugging her knees.

"Oh… Adora, how did I let you talk me into this…?" Catra muttered, nervously. Brittni cocked her eyebrow as she and Oracle walked in.

"_How did you get to this jet before I did…" _Brittni wondered to herself.

"Magic works wonders, darling." Oracle declared, looking back and winking at Brittni, seemingly reading her thoughts.

"Hey, alright! Brittni, we can finally get out of this place!" Adora jeered as she sat down at the copilot seat.

"Oracle- er, Mom, what is going on? What are we doing?" Brittni inquired. Oracle nodded to Catra who merely sighed and moved over to the pilot seat. After a few switches, the jet's engines ignited and it began levitating, ready for takeoff. Oracle sat down in the passenger hold and smiled. Oracle then patted the seat next to her as an invitation for Brittni to sit. Brittni switched glances between everyone and nodded, taking her seat next to Oracle.

"So… where are we going, Mom?"

"Mystacor…"

**Yo! Hey, everyone. Sorry this next update took so long. Moving and settling down was a lot more strenuous than I imagined. Also, I've been playing Stay-At-Home Dad for the past two weeks. And… well, it might be a while lol. But, hey! That means I should have plenty of time. Hopefully, I'll be able to shell out a chapter a week, but no promises. Anyway! Thank you so much for reading! :D**


	42. Chapter 42: Memory Shift (Part 2)

Chapter 42: Memory Shift (Part 2)

A loud hum of the engine was all that the crew of the stolen jet would hear for the first little while of their trip. Adora hummed merrily to herself as she flew the jet. Catra sat in the corner, hugging her legs and murmured nervous mutterings to herself. Oracle sat patiently across from Brittni, smiling and waiting for her daughter to speak. Brittni merely sat in her seat with her head down, trying to wrap around everything that was circulating her mind. The faux memories that Horde Prime had injected into Brittni were slowly but surely fading away, but Brittni was still cautious as to what she believed. Finally, Brittni took a deep breath and lifted her head up.

"Something on your mind, daughter?" Oracle inquired.

"I mean, if your name's 'Oracle,' shouldn't you already know what I'm thinking?" Brittni muttered sarcastically. Oracle smirked.

"Certainly. But that defeats the chance at conversation, doesn't it?" Oracle suggested. From the cockpit, Adora yelled out.

"Hey, fortune cookie! Read my mind!" Adora shouted while giggling. Oracle let out a sigh.

"You're thinking of a tiny pink giraffe stuck in a toaster oven," Oracle stated. Brittni cocked her eyebrow at Oracle and Adora let out a howl of laughter.

"Whoa! You really can read minds! Your mom's awesome, Brittni!" Adora guffawed. Brittni blinked a few times and switched her gaze from Adora to Oracle. The moment that Adora mentioned Oracle being Brittni's mother, Brittni felt a warm feeling surrounding her diaphragm. Oracle giggled quietly.

"So… uh, mom. I'm starting to remember everyone's personalities and… I'm not sure how to put this politely: What the ever-living-" Brittni began to say before a certain word was deafened by some turbulence, "happened to everyone?" Brittni inquired. Oracle narrowed her eyes at Brittni.

"Daughter, you know how I feel about profanity," Oracle muttered. She then sighed and went on to explain, "well, you see, Horde Prime is quite aware of you and your brother's power of observation. He reasoned with himself that he could convert you, Brett, Adora, Catra, and everyone else that was a part of the attack on Mystacor." Oracle declared. When she said this, Adora stopped giggling and Catra stood up from her corner and sat across from Oracle. Oracle then continued, "The way that he is achieving this is by… well…" Oracle stopped for a moment then said, "currently, your minds are hooked up to a machine that has created this false reality." Catra gasped and Brittni shuddered a bit.

"Y...you mean that this isn't real?" Catra inquired.

"We're in a simulation?" Brittni added. Oracle nodded.

"Indeed. You remember what happened back at Mystacor, yes? Back when Horde Prime activated the planetary shift?" All three listeners nodded, intently. "Well, when that happened, the planet was literally shifted out of one dimension into another. While that was happening, everyone within a several mile radius was rendered unconscious. Once that happened, Prime brought you all aboard his ship and hooked you up to the machine."

"But… Like, why?" Adora inquired.

"As I was saying before, Prime saw something special within all of you. He knows you to be Etheria's greatest warriors and felt that instead of obliterating you, he would convert you." Oracle indicated. Brittni shuddered at this aspect.

"Convert us? How?" Brittni inquired.

"You saw your brother? This simulation is meant to slowly warp your mind into seeing Horde Prime as the ultimate ruler. By keeping your personalities the same, you would all feel as though everything was completely normal. As time passed, the simulation would slowly place points in your mind to subconsciously; but eventually, consciously, change your mind to worship Prime as a deity." Oracle explained. Brittni blinked her eyes.

"Like brainwashing? What a psychopath…" Brittni muttered,"if that's the case, how come everyone's personalities but mine were changed?" Brittni inquired. Oracle smiled.

"Ah, that's where I came in. You see, a long while ago, a Horde technician arrived at my home from Elberon. She was carrying data regarding Void's true identity. When I touched the device, I also received a vision of this simulation. Through the technician's engineering skills and my magic, we were able to create a machine similar to Prime's. I knew that Prime's arrival was inevitable, so I have been plugged in for a while, waiting for Prime to activate his planetary shift. As soon as he did, I only had time to enter the simulation and set up a firewall around your mind." Oracle explained. Brittni gasped and Oracle continued, "I knew that your powers would lead you to the truth." Oracle winked, "as for everyone else, the technician did her best to hack the software and shift everyone's personalities so that you would be able to recognize that something was wrong."

Brittni switched glances between Adora and Catra. Adora was concentrating on flying, but her silence indicated that she felt haunted at what Oracle was saying. Catra's mouth was wide agape.

"Y… you mean, I'm not normally like this?" Catra inquired, "but… does that mean my regular personality is… mean?" Brittni and Oracle looked at each other and mumbled.

"Er… well… uh…" The two talked over each other. Catra wrapped her tail around her waist and hugged it tightly.

"I don't want to be mean!" Catra protested.

_"Never thought I'd hear those words…" _Brittni thought to herself.

"Ah, who knows Catra. Maybe you're really feisty! And I _do _like feisty." Adora said, almost flirtatious. Brittni groaned.

_"Ugh, at least these two might actually admit their love for each other…"_ Brittni again thought to herself.

"Well… Thanks for believing in me, Mom." Brittni said, grinning. Oracle closed her eyes and smiled. Brittni then turned to Catra, "and don't worry, Catra, you're not that mean." Brittni winked. Catra once again hugged her knees tight, not wanting to think about her personality shift.

"We're almost there, y'all!" Adora indicated. Sure enough, the jet was entering Mystacor's airspace which manifested in a transmission from Mystacor. A melancholy sounding voice came onto the speaker.

"Um… hello, uh… y-you're entering… uh, M-Mystacor's airspace. Which is not restricted. I mean, Mystacor's restricted airspace is restricted- I mean... oh, man, I am so bad at this…" The voice said rather nervously. Brittni recognized the voice but not the tone. She ran over to the cockpit and pressed the intercom button.

"Glimmer?! Is that you?!" Brittni demanded. Adora giggled.

"What…?" The voice responded, "how… how did you know my name?" Glimmer inquired.

"Glimmer? Heh, that's a word, not a name." Adora declared as she made whooshing noises and wriggled her fingers in the air, signifying a flickering sparkle. Brittni ignored Adora's goofiness and responded.

"Glimmer, listen. We're friends of Mystacor! We're… here to learn!" Brittni declared awkwardly. Adora and Catra switched their gaze to Brittni in surprise, while Oracle simply smirked.

"Learn? B-But I can't do magic- Mmph!" Catra began to say before Oracle clamped her hand over Catra's mouth.

"Heh, magic. Princesses? Aren't we supposed to hate all that- Mmph!" Adora began to say before having her mouth clamped by Brittni's hand. It was quiet over the radio for a few moments that felt like an eternity. A pronounced breath escaped Brittni's mouth as she anxiously awaited a response. Finally, a hesitant Glimmer came back on the speaker.

"Oh… uh, well, okay, you're cleared for landing… I think." Glimmer said, nervously. Brittni took her hands off the intercom and Adora's mouth, then let out a dramatic sigh of relief.

"Whoa, awesome. So we're gonna learn magic? I bet Shadow Weaver is going to love that!" Adora indicated. She then steered the airship towards a landing pad near the front gate of Mystacor. While they were in the process of landing, Oracle gave a brief plan.

"Alright, this is how this is going to work. Once we land, you are all going to need to pose as students. I will act as your instructor. Once the pleasantries and rapport are established, we are going to need to find our way to the Lunarium. Inside the Lunarium is a device that acts as a failsafe for the entire simulation. Once we power it down, we should wake up back in the real world." Oracle explained. She took a look around and found only confused gazes staring back at her. She let out a light sigh then added, "it will all make sense once we've landed."

Soon enough, the jet landed and the passengers within made their way out. They were greeted by a group of sorcerers, one being the Head Sorceress, Castaspella, and another being…

"_Glimmer...!" _Brittni thought to herself. She then heard Oracle communicate to her mind.

"_Act normal. Remember, this is not the Glimmer you know right now." _Oracle telecommunicated. Brittni nodded and bowed before the magic-users.

"Ah, welcome to Mystacor. It is quite wonderful to meet you all." Castaspella said in an almost monotone voice.

"Greetings, Head Sorceress." Oracle said humbly with a bow. Castaspella gave a little smile and introduced the rest of her entourage. Castaspella's words began fading to complete silence as Brittni saw Glimmer in the background. Brittni could not keep her eyes off of Glimmer as Glimmer hid behind Castaspella. In her mind Brittni kept thinking to herself:

"_This is the evil, psycho princess, hell-bent on destroying the Horde, Glimmer?" _Brittni pondered.

"Glimmer," Castaspella began, turning towards her, breaking Brittni's daydream, "would you show these three to their first lesson?" Glimmer blinked her eyes and came out from behind Castaspella.

"Oh, uh... yes, of c-course, Auntie." Glimmer said nervously. She then turned to the Horde, oblivious to the uniforms and continued, "this... um, this way." Glimmer then led the trio into Mystacor's main chamber. As Brittni walked she looked around and could visibly see flashbacks of the death and destruction that was wrought by Night Moon when they attacked in the real world. She hid her shudder as the trio made their way into a classroom. Inside was a typical layout with desks, bookshelves, holographic writing boards, and various decorations. What was interesting to note, however, was the large circle in the middle that took up the majority of the room. Inside the circle, there were two students dueling; one using fire magic, the other, water.

"So, uh, this is, um, a classroom of beginning elements." Glimmer stated, rubbing her arm, "it's where beginners learn how to wield and use magic." The Horde trio gazed at the two duelists, enthralled by their finesse. The water user simply kept parrying the fire users' attacks. Once the fire user started panting with fatigue, the water user spun around and simultaneously hurled a large glob of water at the fire user's face, knocking him out of the circle. The water user smirked and raised a fist.

"Looks like I win." The water user giggled. The fire user groaned as he picked himself up.

"Well done, both of you!" The instructor proclaimed. She then noticed Glimmer bringing in the Horde trio, "ah, Princess Glimmer, what have you brought for us?"

"Oh, uh. Yes, these are new students, professor." Glimmer said, bowing and presenting them.

"Wonderful!" The professor began, "well, let's start with…" The professor went on to explain the basics of magic. Brittni was actually rather interested as she did not have much experience with the concept of magic. Though, suddenly, yet slowly, the professor's voice quieted and Brittni heard Oracle's voice.

"_Brittni, it's your mother. I need you and Adora to make your way to the Antechamber of Artifacts. I've located She-Ra's sword. If she reconnects with it, it will bring back her memories." _Oracle declared. The professor's voice suddenly began being audible once again.

"...So! Which of you shall attempt learning fire magic against our water user?" The professor inquired.

"Uh, I uh. Adora and I need to go to the bathroom, really quick!" Brittni declared. Everyone in the room gazed at the two with suspicious looks. Even Adora looked at Brittni, confused.

"Uh, so… I don't actually have to go-" Adora began before Brittni flashed desperate eyes at her. "I, um, mean, yeah, we'll be right back." Per Adora's word, the duo made a quick escape.

"Ah, oh well. You! Catra, was it? We'll start with you." The professor indicated.

"ME?!" Catra protested nervously.

_Brittni and Adora make their way to the Antechamber... _

As the duo entered the Antechamber, they found themselves surrounded by magical artifacts from all walks of life displayed in cases and on counters. Everything from magic staves to enchanted weapons, made this a rather large treasure trove of magic. While Adora was busying herself with touching everything in sight, Brittni was looking for the sword. During the search, Brittni had an eerie feeling when she heard the voice in her head. Something about the frequency did not sit right with Brittni. She also found it strange that there was no guard or even any visitors. Before Brittni could ponder any further, at the corner of her eye, she saw the sword encased in a glass display case. Brittni gasped as she ran towards it and put her hands on the glass. However, once she got a closer look, there was something different about the sword. Although it seemed to be the sword, Brittni could tell that the sword itself was a few millimeters shorter than it needed to be and the jewel in the hilt was a slightly darker blue.

"_This isn't the sword..." _Brittni thought to herself. As she was pondering, she heard a rather rambunctious Adora fling herself towards the case, causing Brittni to stumble to the side

"Whoa! Brittni, check out the sword!" Adora shouted as she ripped open the glass case and clutched the sword.

"Wait, Adora!" Brittni protested. But it was too late. Once Adora pulled the sword out of the case, an alarm sounded. No sooner did they realize that a group of sorcerers barged in. There was something eerily strange about all of them... in particular, their eyes.

They were glowing a neon green!

"Oh, no..." Brittni shuddered as she knew what the green eyes implied.

"Oh, yes..." A familiar but unwelcome voice came from behind all the sorcerers.

"...Horde Prime..." Brittni muttered in disbelief.

"Ah, so you _do _recognize me, child." Horde Prime declared as he moved forward, slowly clapping his hands, "after all, I would hope you wouldn't forget your own uncle."

"You're NOT my uncle!" Brittni sneered, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"I'm afraid I am, my dear. Now, if you'll please come with me, we can wipe your memory and restart this little simulation. What do you say?" Horde Prime inquired, gravely.

Something in what Horde Prime said had struck a nerve with Brittni. Brittni looked to Adora who had an absolute countenance of terror. Brittni turned back to Horde Prime. She felt angst knowing that she was being played from the start. She felt helpless at Horde Prime's power. She felt fearful at just what it was that Horde Prime was going to do. Soon, however, that fear transitioned to anger, and then manifested into rage.

Brittni let out a loud shriek and sprinted towards Horde Prime. One of the sorcerers made a few hand signs in the air. Brittni quickly recognized it as a paralysis spell. As she was running, she grabbed a crown of some sort on the artifacts display and heaved it at the sorcerer. The crown struck the sorcerer's hand. The sorcerer let out a shriek of pain and waved his hands around, trying to soothe them.

"Adora! Grab a weapon!" Brittni commanded. Adora anxiously looked around for some kind of weapon and ended up grabbing a staff next to the sword's case.

"Uh, so how do I work this thing-" Adora began to say as she clutched it. When she clutched it, however, the end of it began glowing. Adora nervously mused at the staff, aiming it at Horde Prime and the sorcerers. Horde Prime let out a gasp and raised his fist, activating a transparent shield that surrounded his body. The moment he did that, a large ball of energy shot out of the staff and struck Horde Prime, causing a massive explosion, knocking him, Brittni, and the sorcerers away from the blast. Adora was awestruck as she switched glances between the staff and the big hole in the wall that she had just created.

"I'm keeping this." Adora said, facetiously. Brittni groaned as she picked herself up. Adora ran over to Brittni and helped her up, dusting off the debris.

"Thanks, Adora…" Brittni said. Adora smiled, and for a moment, she began feeling some memories return. A few flashbacks of when they were in the Whispering Woods and Brittni getting stung by the giant wasp.

"...Brittni?" Adora inquired, rather seriously. Brittni blinked her eyes.

"Do you remember?" Brittni inquired back.

"I… I…" Adora stammered until they heard a loud growling noise coming from outside the Antechamber. The two looked and saw Horde Prime picking himself up.

"We gotta go!" Brittni interrupted as she ran out of the hall, stomping on Horde Prime as she ran.

"Oof!"

Adora followed the chase, also stomping on Horde Prime.

"Oof! Argh!" Horde Prime grimaced as the two girls ran down the hall towards the Lunarium. Heading up the stairs and avoiding any sorcerer that gave them a strange look, they eventually made their way to the entrance of the Lunarium. The girls panted as they stopped to catch their breath.

They opened the door carefully, revealing a group of sorcerers as well as the Head Sorceress, Castaspella. They were gathered in a circle, wearing robes that had hoods which cloaked their faces. It was dark in the Lunarium, with only the various constructs of magic as well as the moon, illuminating the room. The two carefully walked in, trying to remain quiet as they were weary that everyone was under Prime's control.

There were a few tables in the room as well as a parquet row of seats like in a theater. When they were safely hidden behind some of the seats, Brittni and Adora listened closely to what the group of sorcerers were saying.

"...And so, in the name of the great Horde Prime; our god, we sacrifice this woman…" The cultic group chanted. Brittni widened her eyes when she heard those words and moved around the seats to get a closer look. There, bound and gagged on a table, was Oracle struggling through her bonds. Brittni let out a stifled gasp. Oracle, through the corner of her eye, managed to see Brittni and let out a muffled scream. The group then turned towards Brittni and Adora. Castaspella let out a lifeless sigh.

"We have guests." Castaspella said, drawing a few hand signs. Brittni recognized them as a heat detecting spell. Sure enough, Castaspella pointed at the seats and added a monotone, "get them." The group of sorcerers marched towards the seats and aimed their staves, ready to fire.

"Hah! Let's see you fight this!" Adora shouted, standing up and charging up her staff.

"Wait, Adora!" Brittni protested, but it was too late. Adora and the sorcerers fired their staves with the beams and balls of energy flying towards each other. Adora, still in between her goofy and serious state, forgot about her own mortality, while Brittni ducked for cover. The two sides of energy collided, sending a shockwave to both parties, knocking them all on their backs, out cold. Brittni, while crouched, turned towards Adora who was sitting unconscious against a seat.

"Adora? Adora! Please say you're okay!" Brittni beseeched. It was no use, however, Adora was out cold. Brittni then heard a groan coming from the middle of the room. As she turned towards it, she saw that Castaspella had a knife to Oracle's throat, still bound and gagged to the table. Castaspella turned a lifeless gaze towards Brittni.

"Surrender, or I kill your mother." Castaspella threatened. Oracle let out another muffled scream. Brittni's nervous and widened eyes began to tear up as she did not know exactly what to do. She shuddered a bit before holding her arms up and coming out from behind the seats. She took a few steps towards Castaspella, which she took as a threat and so stuck her knife closer to Oracle's throat. Brittni stopped her pacing and gasped.

"Okay, okay! J...Just don't hurt her!" Brittni beseeched. A grin creepier than the Crypt Keeper's face, stretched across Castaspella's face.

"Excellent. Lord Prime will be here soon to send you to reconditioning." Castaspella indicated. Brittni grimaced for a few moments then grinned.

"He can try…" Brittni muttered. She then looked closely at Oracle, narrowing her eyes at her. Although her eyes were full of terror, and her muffled screams sounded sincere, Brittni felt something different about Oracle. She then added, "y'know, I grew up without a mom…" Brittni said, putting her arms down. Castaspella cocked an eyebrow.

"Hmm?!" Oracle muffled into her gag. Brittni grinned and started pacing around the room.

"Yeah, I mean, the Fright Zone raised me. They made me what I am today." Brittni declared as she stopped her pacing. "Then I met my mother. She was so kind and loving… she taught me about magic and about who was right and wrong on Etheria."

"What's your point?" Castaspella demanded, putting her knife closer to Oracle's throat. Brittni chuckled.

"My point is, Head Sorceress, do you really want to kill your own comrade?" Brittni challenged. Oracle and Castaspella switched glances and Brittni added in clarification, "after all… that's not Oracle. That's Void."

A string of gasps came out from Castaspella and the fake Oracle as they realized they had been caught. Soon enough, a shroud of darkness with beads of green light surrounded Oracle and when it dissipated, revealed Double Trouble.

"Very clever, Brittni. You always were able to see past deception." Double Trouble indicated, grinning with a row of sharpened teeth, "but it seems as though your luck has run out." The moment that Double Trouble said that, Brittni felt a presence overshadow her. She turned around and found Horde Prime towering over her. Before she could react, Horde Prime grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up. Brittni began choking, gasping for air.

"Such an insolent creature. So much potential, so much strength and intelligence… and you waste your gifts on a planet that should have been destroyed from the beginning." Horde Prime sneered. At this point, Brittni was no longer afraid of Prime. She gritted her teeth, glared at Prime, cocked her fist back and punched the left side of his head where the extra set of eyes were. Horde Prime let out a growl of pain and heaved Brittni to the right, towards a few tables. The tables broke in several pieces as Brittni's body crashed against them. She let out a painful groan as she attempted to stand back up. Horde Prime's feet pounded against the floor as he stomped towards Brittni.

"If you will not submit to reconditioning, then you will submit to death!" Horde Prime shouted as he was about to grab Brittni.

"You will NOT lay a hand on my daughter!" A reverberated and holy voice shouted from behind. Horde Prime looked back to see the _real _Oracle. Oracle then began making hand signs and spoke, "In the name of the Savior, you will face His holy light!" The moment Oracle spoke that, a beam of resplendent light fired upon Horde Prime, sending him flying into the wall, cracking an imprint into it. Brittni switched glances between the wall and Oracle.

"Mom!" Brittni shouted, running over to Oracle who began fainting from the energy she expended. Brittni caught Oracle before she collapsed, and a weakened mother smiled at her daughter.

"Hello, love." Oracle said." Brittni smiled back, though it was short-lived as Double Trouble and Castaspella moved towards them, aiming their respective weapons; swords and a knife. Brittni looked back at them.

"This. Ends. Now!" Double Trouble screamed, raising their sword. As the sword came down, a stream of fire was flying towards Double Trouble and Castaspella, coming from the opposite end of the room. Before they could react, the hot plasma engulfed the two, causing them to drop their weapons and panic. Brittni looked around and found… Catra? Using magic?!

"H-Hey! I learned how to control fire!" Catra indicated. Brittni blinked her eyes a few times.

"_Catra using fire. Never thought I'd see the day…" _Brittni thought to herself. Oracle coughed a bit and began speaking again.

"Brittni, quickly! You must activate the failsafe! It will end all of this!" Oracle declared.

"You're not activating anything!" A half-burned Horde Prime declared as he stood up. He slowly marched towards Brittni, aiming his wrist cannon at her. Brittni let out a gasp and dove to the ground, holding Oracle. The beam of plasma flew past them into Catra's fire that she used as a shield.

"Brittni! Get to the failsafe! I'll take care of Prime! Go!" Catra commanded. Brittni looked at Oracle who nodded. Brittni let go of Oracle and ran towards the failsafe while Prime and Catra battled it out.

"You will not stop this! You will all be my thralls!" Prime shouted as he fired more shots at Catra, with one shot hitting her fire wall, knocking her back. Brittni, meanwhile, sprinted to the center console and pressed a few buttons, revealing the failsafe. It was a lever, and she began to pull it.

"No!" Horde Prime shouted as he ran towards the failsafe.

"Yes." Brittni corrected as she slammed the lever down. Once she did that, the entire space of the room began warping, as though reality was bending itself. The room was shaking and seemed to start collapsing into itself as the floor and the ceiling began meeting. Brittni closed her eyes and waited for whatever was going to happen next...


	43. Chapter 43: Etherial Return

Chapter 43: Etherial Return

If you've felt an overwhelming sense of grogginess and disorientation from taking an elongated nap during the day, you would scratch the surface of just how everyone aboard the simulation ship felt when they awoke from their simulation pods. Mostly everyone seemed to wake up around the same time.

The first to wake up was Brett who blinked his eyes a few times and saw the glass dome that was above him. Surrounding the chair he was sitting in were various buttons and wires. Brett, being a tech genius, quickly deduced what wires and buttons he needed to fiddle with in order to open the pod. Sure enough; after said fiddling, the glass dome let out a noise similar to when a bus opens its doors, and slowly lifted up. Brett quickly jumped out of the pod and looked around. Surrounding him were a group of pods that were facing against each other, formed in a circle. He could see that everyone was trying to push and kick open their pods…

...Everyone except Entrapta who was pushing herself against the one window in the room, staring wide-eyed at the void outside.

"Entrapta…? Entrapta!" Brett shouted excitedly as he carefully moved over to her, ignoring the protests from the other pods. Entrapta looked back and grinned.

"Oh, hi, Brett! You're awake! I didn't want to wake any of you up. You all looked so peaceful in your pods!" Entrapta exclaimed excitedly. Brett cocked his eyebrow.

"Well, you're definitely Entrapta…" Brett muttered. He then moved closer to her and wrapped her in a hug. Entrapta's mouth went wider than an uppercase O and then she nuzzled into his neck.  
"I missed you, too." Entrapta said, reading his mind. Brett pulled back and looked around the room. It was a circular room that was riddled with all sorts of machines, power conduits, tubing, and wires. Most of all, the metal everywhere was completely white. The only other color was neon green that illuminated from the lights and machines. Littering the ground were a few unconscious bodies. Brett moved over to one and kicked it over.

Horror and confusion met with Brett's gasp as he registered what he was looking at. The bodies all looked like…

"Hordak…?" They at least looked rather similar to Hordak, although they were all completely white, including their hair, and they wore a black and white robe with the Horde symbol emblazoned on it. In addition, their eyes glowed a neon green rather than red. Brett then turned to Entrapta, "Entrapta, what the heck happened?" Entrapta grinned as she activated a nearby computer. As she searched through the files, typing with her hair, she came up with a conclusion:

"Well, from what I can deduce from the simulation archives, your sister activated the failsafe of the simulation. Turns out that when that happened, it not only stopped the simulation, but overloaded the system. These three clones of Horde Prime were rendered unconscious from the electromagnetic pulse." Entrapta explained. Brett rubbed his chin for a moment.

"...Which means that they're partially cybernetic." Brett concluded, "that info will come in handy."

It was at that moment that the two heard a crash. Turning to the source, they found that Bow had finally managed to hotwire the system and kick the dome off. Brett grinned.

"Well, if it isn't the only technologically competent member of the Rebellion." Brett joked.

"Ah, and the only competent member of the Horde." Bow joked back, though he felt mean for saying that and quickly added an apology. Brett laughed at the apology but refocused at the task at hand. Between all three tech geniuses, opening the domes was rather easy. Everyone was able to have their little happy reunions. Brittni embraced Brett, Adora embraced Bow and Catra... and then there was Glimmer, still locked in her pod. Frosta stood over it, trying to get it open.

"Someone help me open this!" Frosta growled.

"Coming!" Entrapta squealed as she was about to start her wire work.

"No, wait! Entrapta." Brett protested. Entrapta stopped and gazed at Bow and Brett.

"What?" Entrapta inquired.

"I… don't know if we should let her out." Bow muttered. Adora then stepped up.

"Bow, what are you saying?" Adora demanded.

"What are you talking about?! Open the pod, now!" Frosta commanded.

"Pft, outta the way, short stop" Brett commanded as he began approaching her. Frosta tensed up and began forming ice around her fists.

"Wait, Brett, we can't just leave Glimmer here." Adora snapped

"Yeah, we can." Catra muttered, leaning against one of the pods with her arms crossed.

"Ugh, Catra." Adora grimaced. She then looked to Brittni who was sitting against a pod, "Brittni, help me out here. We can't just leave her, right?!" Adora inquired. Brittni let out a dramatic sigh as she switched glances with everyone in the room. Despite desperately wanting nothing more than to leave Glimmer to her fate… Brittni still felt that it would be wrong to just leave her there to die.

"I…" Brittni began, not knowing what to say. She let out a sigh then said, "Since she was in a pod, I guess the logical thought is that she's no longer working with Horde Prime… I'm sure she could be a powerful ally against him." Brittni reasoned, though she did not completely believe it, herself.

"Oh, come on." Catra growled as she stood up from the wall, "this psychotic, sparkly, emo girl almost killed all of us, and now we're just supposed to free her?!" Catra demanded.

"I'm with Catra on this one." Brett declared.

"If you don't open it, I will!" Frosta growled as she began generating ice around the pod.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Brett threatened as he tackled Frosta.

"Heh, nice one, Brett." Catra jeered.

"Brett! Easy! She's just a little-" Bow started.

"Don't call me little!" Frosta snapped as she was trying to push Brett off. She then glared at Brett, "what? Are you gonna use a chainsaw on me again? To finish the job?!" Brittni's eyes widened when she heard Frosta made that declaration.

"Wait… what?" Brittni inquired, staring hard at the two.

"Enough!" Adora shouted. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to her, "Look, this is the absolute worst time for all of us to be fighting. We don't even know where we are! We need to calm down, shut up, figure out where we are, and then get out of here!" Adora snapped.

The room went silent, inferring an unspoken consent. Adora then took a deep breath.

"I understand what Glimmer has done… but don't we all have blood on our hands? Haven't we all been enemies at one point?" Adora challenged. The room, though silent, was filled with nodding heads. Adora sighed and continued, "so, let's just do it. Please." Everyone looked towards Brett and Frosta. Brett switched glances between everyone and Frosta then let out a heavy sight. After picking himself up off of Frosta, he reached out his hand. Frosta eyed Brett suspiciously and sighed. She then gripped his hand and was pulled up. Brett nodded at Entrapta indicating his consent. Entrapta then went to work opening up the pod.

The high pressure noise indicated that the pod's glass was opening. Glimmer, though her eyes were closed was slowly awoken by the noise. She blinked her eyes a few times and gasped when she realized who was around her.

"You!" Glimmer snapped."How did- where am-" Glimmer sputtered out. Brett was about to reply with something sarcastic when Adora and Bow moved over.

"Glimmer?" Bow inquired.

"B...Bow… Adora... I… I…" Glimmer stuttered, attempting to figure out exactly what she wanted to say. But there was nothing. Between the overwhelming guilt and animosity that was enshrouding Glimmer, she could not say much but shudder. Frosta then pushed Adora and Bow out of the way.

"Glimmer!" Frosta squealed as she reached over and wrapped Glimmer in a hug. A few tears began streaming down Glimmer's eyes when she was embraced. Although Frosta was seemingly the one person that she hadn't hurt in the room, she felt as though she had betrayed Frosta by bringing her kingdom into Night Moon.

"Hey, Frosta…" Glimmer said weakly as she returned the hug. Frosta backed up and Glimmer let herself out. As she gazed at everyone, she could see a mix of unsurety and condemnation. She merely let out a sigh and said, "so, uh… where are we?"

"A spaceship!" Entrapta indicated, "oh, my goodness. I thought I would only dream about this day, but to actually experience it?!" Entrapta let out a pleasant sigh and slumped to the floor, "it's perfect." Catra let out a groan.

"Okay, great, reunion time over. Can we get outta here, now?!" Catra demanded.

"She's right." Brett said as he paced around, "Entrapta, is there a way out of this ship?" Entrapta sat up and used one of her pigtails to rub her chin as she thought.

"Based on the size of this room, I can only assume that an incredibly large power source is keeping this ship flying… which means this must be a pretty large ship."

"And large ships should have some kind of escape pod, right?" Brett inferred.

"Most likely! Let's go look around!" Entrapta said excitedly as she used her hair to pick herself up. Brett, Brittni, and Catra followed Entrapta closely, while Adora, Frosta, and Glimmer stood there as though they were in a trance. Glimmer leaned against a wall while Adora and Frosta beckoned her to come. Glimmer let out a sigh.

"Why did you free me from the pod?" Glimmer inquired with her head down.

"Because… you're our friend." Adora declared. There was a nearby terminal against the wall that Glimmer was leaning on. She grabbed it off its hinges and heaved it at the ground, shattering it into multiple pieces. Adora and Bow stood back while Frosta merely frowned.

"Friend? Friend..?!" Glimmer demanded, "Would a friend try to kill their 'friends?' Would a friend slaughter innocent civilians just because they worked for the Horde? Would a friend lead an army into her Aunt's home and completely obliterate it?" Glimmer began breathing hard as tears began strewing down her face.

"No…" Glimmer muttered, "I'm nothing but a hypocritical, power tripping, psychopath. I became exactly what I tried to stop… I don't deserve your pity, your friendship…" Glimmer began sobbing at this point, "or to even live…" Frosta moved towards her.

"Glimmer…" Frosta began.

"Just… leave me." Glimmer muttered.

"Glimmer, wait." Bow began, "I think deep down inside you really did try to do what's right. Adora told me about the Black Garnet and how it messed with your mind. Shadow Weaver did this!" Bow explained. Glimmer merely shook her head.

"That was only to an extent… I've been feeling this vindictive rage since the Horde conquered Elberon. It seemed like everything I tried to do didn't work… and in my quest for power… I just lost myself." Glimmer then slumped to the floor and hid her head in her knees. Adora moved over and knelt beside her. Glimmer then added, "I'll never be able to make up for everything I've done…"

"Well, you can at least try." Adora said, "you can start by helping us get out of here and helping us defeat Horde Prime. Please, Glimmer. Come with us." Adora beseeched. Glimmer looked up, her sclera completely white and puffy from all the crying.

"We need everyone we can get to defeat Horde Prime." Bow chimed in.

Glimmer looked around at the three faces that were so willing to give her another chance. Though tears were still falling out of her eyes like a monsoon. After a few more moments of self pity, Glimmer picked herself up.

"I don't expect… let alone deserve your forgiveness, so don't burden yourself with doing it… But I will help you all beat Horde Prime." Glimmer indicated. Adora and Bow nodded while Frosta smiled.

"Okay, let's get the heck outta here!" Frosta beseeched as she ran out of the room. In close pursuit, the other three followed.

They did not travel far until they heard sounds of gunfire and clashing of metal. Adora let out a sigh.

"You know, I'd like to go one hour where we aren't being attacked by something!" Adora snapped. Everyone then ran towards the sound. They were traveling down a bright white hallway, adorned with neon green lights. The hallway looked as though a battle had taken place there, though. There were laser burns and cracks in the walls, shell casings, and bits of green blood.

"This looks promising…" Bow muttered. As they moved a little closer a metallic slam followed by a door flying from one side of the hallway to the other indicated something bad was happening. Following the door flying, the Horde group was running out of that room towards the Rebellion/Night Moon group.

"Go! Run!" Brittni shouted as she pushed past the Rebellion group, followed by the rest of the Horde. The Rebellion group looked to what they were running from and realized they wish they hadn't looked…

Following a deafening roar, came some kind of four legged creature. It looked like some kind of white bull creature, though much larger and had tubes of neon green fluid. Its head was also incredibly large and featured razor sharp teeth in its mouth. Most intimidating, however, was its face. It was shaped very similarly to Hordak's skull-like face. The creature gazed at the remaining four with its menacing, glowing green eyes. It let out yet another thunderous roar, reminding the Rebel group to turn and run.

As they ran, Bow attempted to fire his sticky arrows at the corners of the hallway walls to ensnare the creature. It only worked for a minute or so, as the creature was able to force itself out of the sticky goo from Bow's arrow. At the end of the hallway was a fork in the road. Brittni stuck her head out of the corner and shouted.

"This way! Entrapta says she found the escape pods!" Brittni shouted. The group bounded the corner and sprinted to the room that the Horde group was in. Before the group turned the corner, Frosta sprayed a stream of ice at the floor. Once the creature stepped foot onto the ice, it slid ungracefully towards the wall and slammed into it, leaving its shaped indent onto the wall. The group then ran into the escape pod room and Brett closed the door, bashing the controls. While everyone was catching their breath, Entrapta was giddying herself up.

"Wow… I want to know what that creature was! I've never seen a thing like it! It was like some kind of Horde Prime...bull!" Entrapta shouted, excitedly. Brett let out a sigh.

"Whatever it is, it's gonna ram this door down if we don't get out quick." Brett muttered.

"Brett's right. Let's get in the pods and get out of here." Adora added. Per their advice, everyone began piling into the escape pods. Each pod could fit three people. Though, just as Brett thought, they heard a slamming metallic sound banging at the door. Brett took a closer look and saw that the door was beginning to close in.

As everyone got into their respective escape pods, the demonic entity had just broken through. Brittni was just about to get into one of the pods when the bull monster charged at her. She let out a scream and held up her hands in defense. However, the bull never made it to her. When she opened her eyes, Brittni found that the bull was enshrouded in a dark purple aura. Looking behind and to the left, Brittni saw that Glimmer was holding the beast at bay.

"...Glimmer?" Brittni softly spoke.

"Glimmer!" Adora, Frosta, and Bow shouted simultaneously from their pods.

"Go!" Glimmer shouted, "let me… do something… good… for once!" Glimmer struggled saying. Brittni shuddered and stood frozen as the beast continued to break itself out of the aura. Glimmer then again repeated for everyone to just escape. Frosta attempted to open her pod, but Glimmer, standing next to the controls had already locked the pod doors.

Brittni took one last look at Glimmer and a tear came out of her eye.

"Glimmer… I'm sorry for what we did at Elberon!" Brittni quickly shouted. Glimmer smiled.

"I'm sorry for what I did at Elberon, too… and Dryl... and Mystacor" Glimmer said softly, as she sniffled. The aura surrounding the bull began weakening and Brittni quickly jumped into her pod. The protests coming from Adora, Bow, and especially Frosta continued to resonate throughout the room. As Brittni sat in the pod, the door was shut and a click sound indicated it was locked. And not a moment later, the pods were shot off.

The last thing that anyone saw was the aura around the bull demon break… and the beast turning towards Glimmer...

_Our heroes make their way back to Etheria, via the escape pods... _

It is difficult to describe just how Adora and Bow felt after they had left Glimmer. Brett and Catra did not care at all. Entrapta was sad, but more excited about being in an escape pod. Frosta was absolutely devastated. But Adora, Bow, and Brittni had multiple feelings.

"I... I can't believe she's gone..." Bow muttered with a few tears streaming down his face. Frosta was sobbing uncontrollably while Adora tried to be optimistic.

"We don't know that! There was another escape pod. Maybe she... maybe she..." Adora stopped halfway through her sentence. She knew just how long of a shot it was that Glimmer could be alive.

"She's gone!" Frosta managed to choke out. Her voice then became softer as she sniffled, "she's gone..."

After that emotional interchange, the group in that pod simply remained silent. Nobody really knows what to say after you lose somebody that was once your friend. Even if they did begin performing actions, there is something deep inside of you that reminds you of what that person used to be...

... and how they could have changed.

Despite the desire for simple silence, it was interrupted by a sudden blaring voice coming from a speaker within the escape pod.

"Hey? Everyone there?" Brittni inquired. A resounding yes from every channel came through the speakers. A relieved sigh came from Brittni as she continued, "that's good to hear... Now, Entrapta, do you know where our pods are going?" Entrapta's voice came on the line.

"We all seem to be hurdling in different directions. Brittni's pod is going towards the outskirts of Elberon. Adora, Bow, and Frosta are going towards the Whispering Woods, and my group is going towards the Fright Zone." Entrapta explained.

Overlapping murmuring began pervading the speakers with everyone discussing what to do next. Finally, Adora spoke up.

"Okay, listen up. We all need to stay in radio contact with each other. We're going to have to regroup once we land." Adora declared. Everyone gave an acknowledgement and soon, they were about to land.

_Brittni's escape pod lands near her mother's home... _

As the escape pod penetrated the inner atmosphere of Etheria, it seemed to fly down at a faster pace. Brittni could both smell and hear the fire that began enkindling around the escape pod. It was going faster... faster... until.

**CRASH**...

The escape pod ground itself into the grassy hill overlooking Oracle's home. Brittni waited a few minutes for the fire to die down. She checked herself for any injuries and found that she was completely unscathed, thanks to her armor. After a few minutes, Brittni kicked open the door of the pod and jumped out. Brittni took a deep breath of air, grateful that it was true oxygen and not whatever synthetic nonsense she was inhaling on the ship.

Brittni remembered that her mother's house was concealed and so moved over towards the where the house would be. Brittni was about to shout the words, when she heard a voice behind her say them.

"It is I, Oracle. Please reveal yourself." Oracle said, scaring Brittni.

"Ah! Mom!" Brittni said, frustrated as she turned around. Oracle had her eyes closed and had a wide smile. Brittni's frown curved into a grin and she yelled in a much more pleasant tone, "Ah! Mom!" Brittni jumped up, to which Oracle caught her. The two then embraced closely as though they would never see each other again. After a few moments of bonding, Oracle placed Brittni down.

"You know, I regret not being able to rock you in my arms more often." Oracle mused. Brittni blushed, thinking about how nice that would have been. The two then entered Oracle's home and took a seat in the living room.

"I'm glad you're okay, mom… I was getting worried when I didn't hear from you." Brittni said.

"My apologies. While I was in the pod, my powers were not as acute. But I am glad I was able to help you all out of that simulation. Oracle said. Brittni nodded then sighed and clasped her hands together.

"Well… how long were we out? What happened to Mystacor? Is everyone else alright? What's going on with Horde Prime?" Brittni fired her questions off. Oracle sat back in her seat and took in a deep breath.

"In order, you were out… around a week or so. Mystacor, fortunately had a great deal of survivors that were rescued by the Rebellion and brought back to Bright Moon. As for the city itself… well… let's just say that it's going to take quite a while to bring it back to the glory it once was." Oracle muttered, "to answer your last questions… well, it's going to be a bit difficult to explain. You see-" Oracle began before Brittni's radio went off. Taking the radio from her belt, Brittni saw that it was Brett calling.

"This is Brittni."

"Brittni… I…" Brett began, sounding rather dismal. Brittni began feeling her nerves shock her body, starting from her feet, and ending at her heart.

"What? What happened Brett?!" Brittni demanded.

"The Fright Zone… it's… it's empty…"

_Meanwhile, back at the simulation pod spaceship… _

A slam was sounded loudly in the escape pod room as Glimmer was fighting the beast. It was unrelenting in its charging. Glimmer did her best to use her dark magic to control the beast, but the beast's strength kept breaking through her aura. There was a point where Glimmer had become fatigued from the overuse of her telekinesis that she slumped down to her knees. The beast, across the room began pawing at the ground and puffed out a growl. It was getting ready to charge.

Feeling defeated, Glimmer merely closed her eyes, awaiting her fate. During this moment of acceptance, however, Glimmer began feeling an innervation of serenity, as though she was calm with her circumstances. Suddenly, however, she began to hear a still, small voice begin speaking into her mind.

"_Glimmer… do you repent of all the transgressions you have committed against Etheria?" _The voice inquired. Not knowing what the voice was, but feeling tranquil towards it, Glimmer simply said in her mind:

"_I do… but how can I be forgiven?"_ Glimmer inquired.

"_Because your heart is heavy… you feel true sorrow. You wish to make recompense, and you will have the opportunity. If you promise to overcome your darkness and never surrender to it again, you will be forgiven…" _The voice declared.

"_I'll do it… I'll fix everything I've done wrong. I'll change!"_ Glimmer declared.

"_Very well…" _The voice agreed, _"then you will be given your power back…" _

As though one hundred tons of weight had simply fallen off of Glimmer's shoulders, she suddenly began feeling like herself again. She felt peace and happiness. And not too soon, as the beast was merely inches from her, Glimmer felt the presence of the Moonstone!

The electronic wind chime-sounding noise followed a poof of purple sparkles, signifying Glimmer had…

Teleported!

And not too soon! The beast rammed into the machine that controlled the escape pods. A voice came over the speakers saying:

"_Warning, escape pod ejecting in ten seconds…" _Glimmer then had an idea. She jumped on the beast and grabbed it by the horns. With a poof of her sparkles, she teleported with the beast into the escape pod, then quickly teleported out.

"_Have a nice flight!"_ The voice said, cheerfully.

"I'm sure it will…" Glimmer muttered. The beast raved and snarled to no avail. The pod then blasted off, ejecting towards Lord-knows-where.

Glimmer slumped to the ground and sighed.

"Well… that was… crazy." Glimmer said, laughing to herself. She then became serious, "but, I guess I'm stuck here now." Glimmer then stood up and walked around the ship, finding nothing but Horde Prime clone bodies and the one room that had all the beasts caged up. There was one interesting room however…

… The pilot's cockpit. Glimmer grinned at this prospect.

"Time to learn to fly…"


End file.
